Economists and policymakers spoke at a conference in Hanoi last week to discuss how Vietnam is trying to improve the business environment. Nguyen Dinh Cung, former chief of the Central Institute for Economic Management, stated that the prolonged social and mobility restrictions to manage COVID-19 had greatly hampered efforts towards improving the business environment.
As reforms fell off the pace, there were signs of resistance from the government’s ministries. He was quoted by a news agency as saying, “We have seen the return of business requirements which were once removed as well additional requirements put into place.”
Thao stated that too much commitments had been made by the government, but not enough had actually been implemented and reviewed. Nguyen minh Thao, head CIEM’s competition and business environment department, agreed.
Experts recently stated that Vietnam’s top priority is to improve the business environment as it tries to bring its economy back on track. Nguyen Dinh, former head of Central Institute for Economic Management, stated that the country’s inability to lift social and mobility restrictions to monitor COVID-19 has significantly hindered efforts to improve the business climate.
“For instance, while local governments or ministries reported an increased number administrative procedures available online in many instances they have not been effective in servicing businesses,” she was quoted to have stated.
This is reflected in Vietnam’s low-than-impressive Economic Freedom score. The country ranked 17th among 40 countries in the Asia–Pacific region, with 61.7 points—just 0.01 points above the world average.
Tran Duydong, Deputy Minister of Investment and Planning, told the conference that government is fully committed towards the long-term improvement of the business climate and considers it a driving force in economic recovery as well as national development.
He added that the January decree approved by the Prime Minister’s Office authorizing funding for a programme to speed up this process was also approved.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk – DS
