The VCCI adds that the capital conditions for at least 16 of the 243 conditional trades are unsuitable and the scope of control of ten trades requires revision.
In addition to business conditions, taxes and fees are other burdens that weaken the competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises. A World Bank survey on the business climate in 2017 states that the costs of conducting business in Vietnam remain higher than other ASEAN economies. Vietnamese enterprises have to pay taxes at 39.1%, more than double the level in Singapore. What is worse is that besides official costs and complying with legal regulations, Vietnamese enterprises have to bear unofficial costs that could arise at any stage of conducting business.
2017 has been identified by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc as the year to focus on removing all obstacles and reducing costs for enterprises. Since the start of the year, the central government, along with ministries, agencies and local authorities, has taken a lot of measures to streamline the administrative procedures and remove any hurdles to enterprises.
The Prime Minister’s Working Group has frequently worked with ministries, agencies and local authorities to supervise and push them to implement the PM’s directives concerning slashing costs for enterprises.
According to experts, however, great determination and truly substantive solutions are needed to continue improving the business climate in Vietnam.
Many state that assigning ministries and agencies to review administrative procedures under their jurisdiction is inappropriate as it is difficult for them to remove those regulations issued by themselves.
Therefore, it is necessary to establish an independent apparatus to supervise the review and quality of regulations, as well as assessing the accountability in law enforcement of ministries, agencies and local authorities.
It is also necessary to create a channel to receive and handle enterprises’ feedback. And the most important measure is to truly reform the administrative machinery responsible for implementing business laws.
