Chairing the Government’s recent regular meeting to discuss the building of a draft resolution on improving the business environment and national competitiveness, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed that the draft Resolution, which is expected to numbered No. 02, places priority on four key areas: simplifying procedures for doing business; continuing reforms in management, specialized inspections and connecting the national single window; boosting e-payments and providing online level-4 public services; and developing innovation ecosystem and encouraging startups.

Customers making transactions at the State Treasury of Vietnam.

According to economists, the Government has made drastic efforts in renewing institutions and ameliorating the business and investment climate, helping the country move 21 steps in the business index tracked by the World Bank from 2015. Performances of some criteria such as logistic services, innovation, e-Government and access to e-public services saw strong improvements.

However, economist Pham Chi Lan said that although there is a significant growth in the number of newly-established enterprises (120,000 firms), the year 2018 witnessed a record high of businesses halting operations. It was estimated that if ten firms started their business, seven others shut down.

This means the companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, were under intense pressure, she added.

Bottlenecks in business conditions and mechanisms, as well as irrational tax lines, have hindered businesses’ growth, according to Director of the Central Institute of Economic and Management (CIEM) Nguyen Dinh Cung.

“We have reformed strongly in recent years. However, the world is moving faster and there is a competitive race among countries across the five continents towards improving the business climate and national competitiveness”, Cung said.

Economists and the business community believed that if reforms in 2018 still lagged behind expectations, the Government needs to double or triple its efforts in the future.

MLC foreign ministers support open world economy

Foreign ministers from six Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) countries have highlighted the importance of an open world economy and the maintenance of a rules-based multilateral trade system with the World Trade Organisation at its core.

 

Vietnam’s internet economy to reach 9 billion USD in 2018

The Vietnamese internet economy has almost tripled in three years to reach 9 billion USD in 2018, driven by e-commerce and online media, a new report released by Google and Temasek showed.

 

Vietnam leads Southeast Asia in digital economy development

Vietnam’s internet economy is the largest relative to GDP in terms of gross merchandise volume in Southeast Asia this year.

 

Macro-economy stabilised, inflation controlled

 

 

NA’s sixth session to bring huge impacts on socio-economy

The sixth session of the 14th National Assembly (NA), slated to open on October 22, is expected to be a historic meeting with several important issues on the agenda.

 

Source: VNA