>>> Private sector vital to fuel economy: PM
Currently, the private economic sector contributes 40% of the national gross domestic product (GDP), whilst attracting 85% of the country’s total labour force. The Party, State and Government have attached great importance and determination to improving the investment environment and strengthening the capabilities for private firms. The Resolution of the fifth plenum of the 12th Party Central Committee on the private sector has been issued, identifying the development of the private sector as a crucial motivation of the economy and targeting the elimination of any obstacles and prejudices to ensure the development of private businesses healthy and on track. The Government and specialised management agencies should develop more specific commitments, links and action programmes in order to help private firms to become more creative and dynamic, as well as to boost business production.
In reality, there remain a lot of legal barriers combined with overlapping and ambiguous regulations, which have forced private firms to consume huge amounts of money and time. A recent business confidence survey has shown that 60% of businesses reported growth in revenues in 2016, while 67% of them are projected to increase revenues this year. Notably, over 60% of the surveyed companies stated that they are planning to continuously expand their business activities, although nearly half stated that they had missed numerous business opportunities due to legal barriers and market limitations, including a multitude of sublicenses and difficulties in applying for investment licenses and accessing capital and land.
The Government has established an advisory council on administrative procedure reforms, which is mainly tasked with connecting the business community and recommending measures to remove all difficulties for enterprises. The most important issue, with regards to the private sector, is whether the policies and mechanisms facilitate the development of businesses or not, and how effective the policy enforcement is in actuality.
Directly listening to, discussing and answering many problems raised by the businesses at the VPSF, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed that the results of the business confidence survey indicate positive signals, as confidence among investors is improving considerably. As for the agricultural sector, the Government has directed the allocation of VND100 trillion (US$4.4 billion) in loans for the development of high-tech agriculture, whilst already disbursing VND20-30 trillion. The Government will continue replicating the hi-tech agricultural model on the basis of thoroughly researching the consumption market and avoiding the recurrence of abundant crops but with falling prices, and to be consistent with the goal of constructing a facilitative government that accompanies businesses and protects all of the legitimate rights of investors, in accordance with the principles of the World Trade Organisation, bilateral agreements and the Government’s commitments.
Together with the Government’s facilitation commitments, private businesses need to take action, strongly boost innovation, eliminate old and substandard business practices, obtain a thorough insight into the market, anticipate risks and difficulties, and actively engage in the integration process. It is also necessary for them to bravely foster international cooperation, learn from others’ experience, expand their production scale and strengthen their competitiveness, striving to increase the private sector’s contributory ratio to 50-60% of the GDP. Huge efforts of all stakeholders are required in order to achieve the goal of developing the private sector into a crucial motivation of the economy.
