Business climate needs further improvement to support growth

Vietnam’s business environment has continued to improve markedly over the past year as seen by the higher positions gained by Vietnam in the business rankings of international organisations.

About 71% of taxpayers are satisfied with the reforms made by tax agencies in the past year.

The World Bank’s 2017 Doing Business report placed Vietnam at number 82 out of 189 economies, up nine places from the previous year. The country also jumped 14 notches to number 73 out of 136 economies on the Global Enabling Trade Report 2016 by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

In fact Vietnam has made significant efforts to improve transport infrastructure, border management, customs procedures, intellectual property protection and the efficiency of government agencies.

The total time required for paying taxes had been reduced from 573 hours to 117 hours earlier this year and to 110 hours by the end of 2016. Electronic tax declaration and payment have also been applied nationwide. According to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 71% of taxpayers are satisfied with the reforms made by tax agencies in the past year.

But it is still a long way for Vietnam to reach international standards and efforts to improve the business environment will continue by building a facilitating and action-oriented government. The entire government system from the central to local levels must reform themselves to work for the benefit of the people and enterprises.

On top of that, laws and decrees hindering growth must be revised, the banking system cleaned up and exchange rates stabilised. Moreover, efforts to improve the business climate must come aligned with public investment, state budget and public debt restructuring.

It is also necessary to fine-tune mechanisms to contain the spread of false information, prevent environmental disasters from happening, severely discipline violating officials and rein in personnel appointments.

(Source: NDO)