Vietnam will allow to import motorbikes with high-displacement engines from next August, subject to the same temporary tariff of 90 percent as other classes of bikes, the local newspaper Vietnam News reported on Monday.

High-displacement motorbikes would also bear a value-added tax (VAT) of 10 percent, but would not be subject to a special consumption tax, Quach Duc Phap, head of the Tax Policy Department under the Vietnamese Finance Ministry was quoted as saying.

Under the new policy, a U.S.-made Harley-Davidson motorbike which is priced at 5,000 U.S. dollars in other countries will be sold at 10,450 dollars in Vietnam, which includes the 90-percent import tax and the 10-percent VAT, but excludes transport costs.

Vietnam spent 419 million dollars importing motorbikes and their components for domestic assembly in the first 10 months of this year, a year-on-year decline of 6.5 percent, according to the country's General Statistics Office. Specifically, it imported 44, 000 motorbikes worth 57 million dollars, up 28 percent and 18.4 percent, respectively.

Source: Xinhua