Improving the business environment in 2022

	Necessary to form a regulatory body for reform
	Expectations for accelerated improvement of the business environment
	Focus on implementing solutions to promote production and business

The reform of the business environment has been carried out over the years. Photo: H.Diu

Safer and more equal

Accordingly, the Government's Resolution 02/NQ-CP on key tasks and solutions to improve the business environment and national competitiveness in 2022 requires a drastic improvement of the business environment, raising Vietnam’s position in international rankings of the business environment and competitiveness to adapt to the development trend of the fourth industrial revolution and increase the resilience of the economy amid the pandemic.

Along with that, the Resolution requires a rapid increase in the number of newly-established enterprises; reduce the rate of enterprises being dissolved or ceasing to operate; and reduce input costs, informal costs for businesses and people.

In 2021, the whole country had nearly 117,000 businesses established, down 13.4% compared to 2020, the lowest level since 2017. Meanwhile, there were nearly 120,000 businesses suspending operations, an increase of 17.8% compared to 2020. Therefore, according to experts, it is necessary for Resolution 02 in 2022 to increase and decrease the above rates, contributing to the recovery of the economy.

Pham Van The, Chairman of Quang Ninh Business Association, said that improving the business environment and developing businesses has been one of the important focuses of the Government's policy over the years. Thanks to efforts in activities that the Government has set for State agencies related to the business environment, through assessing the satisfaction of firms, Vietnam’s business investment environment has significantly improved and seen positive results.

“The business environment has become safer and more equal among economic sectors; administrative procedures have been improved; unofficial costs have tended to decrease; and business support mechanisms have been realistic and focused," said The.

This year, the goal is to support people and businesses to restore production and business, flexibly and effectively adapt to the pandemic. According to businesses, this is an urgent issue because they have been affected by the pandemic over the past two years. The results of the enterprise survey of the Vietnam Confederation of Trade and Industry (VCCI) in 2021 showed that nearly 90% of enterprises were affected at a “mostly negative” or “totally negative” level, including domestic and FDI units.

Execution is very important

Resolution 02 this year also sets specific goals to improve the quality and ranking of business environment indicators and competitiveness in sync with the improvement of the national credit rating.

Specifically, improve scores and maintain the ranking of the Law Compliance Cost index (referred to as B1); raise the ranking of the Corruption Control Index (B2) by ten levels; raise the ranking of the Quality of Land Administration (B3) by at least one level; raise the ranking of the stock market capitalization index (B7) by two to three levels; and raise the ranking of the Growth Index of Innovative Enterprises (B9) by two to three levels.

Therefore, Resolution 02 has set out 10 key tasks and solutions and an appendix to assign specific tasks to each ministry and branch; in which it emphasizes the strengthening of responsibility, initiative of the ministries assigned to be the focal point to monitor the improvement of the indicators.

According to Nguyen Minh Thao, Head of Business Environment Reform Department, Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), Resolution 02 still has a good approach to international practices to provide specific goals and solutions for relevant agencies.

The difference is that this year, the solution groups are given more focus and detail. The resolution also expands on the group of solutions implemented in previous resolutions on reforming business conditions, such as reviewing the conditional portfolio to identify the root of the problem.

Another key solution is that the Government strengthens digital transformation to synchronize the implementation of administrative reform, creating an open mechanism and saving time for businesses when carrying out procedures.

According to Thao, in 2021, the Government issued 20 documents to remove difficulties and support businesses and people. The proposed solutions were more feasible, the procedures were simpler, but some of them were not really effective, not reaching the majority of businesses in difficulty. Therefore, reforming and improving the business environment is identified as a meaningful "non-financial" solution to support businesses and the economy to adapt and recover from the pandemic.

Sharing the same opinion, Nguyen Van Than, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, said that the policies and resolutions promulgated from the National Assembly to the Government were enough, the most important issue was implementation.

Management agencies should continue to reduce procedures, business conditions, specialized inspection procedures, and carry out online procedures related to taxes, fees, import, and export to create a clear environment for business activities.