Viet Nam has lost one spot from last year on the World Bank’s ease of doing business report to rank 69th out of 190 countries and territories. — Photo nhandan.com.vn
Viet Nam has lost one spot from last year on the World Bank’s ease of doing business report to rank 69th out of 190 countries and territories.
The Southeast Asian nations earned an ease of doing business (EODB) score of 68.36 points, gaining 1.59 points from a year ago, according to the Doing Business 2019 report themed: “Training for Reform”.
Compared to other ASEAN countries, Viet Nam’s was behind Singapore’s second position, Malaysia (15th), Thailand (27th) and Brunei (55th), and only higher than Indonesia (73rd), the Philippines (124th), Cambodia (138th), Laos (154th) and Myanmar (171st).
According to the report, Viet Nam had made starting a business easier by publishing the notice of incorporation online and by reducing the cost of business registration,
In addition, paying taxes was also easier because companies no longer had to submit hard copies of value added tax returns. Viet Nam had also cut taxes by reducing employers’ contributions to the labour fund.
The report also pointed out that Viet Nam had made enforcing contracts easier by making judgments rendered at all levels in commercial cases available to the public online.
Among the ten sectors that the report covered, Viet Nam earned higher scores in seven indicators, including getting electricity (up by 9.25 points) and starting a business (up by 2.80 points).
However, only four indicators jumped higher in the rankings, including starting a business, registering property, getting electricity and enforcing contracts.
According to Dau Anh Tuan, head of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Legal Department, findings from the World Bank’s Doing Business 2019 report showed that Viet Nam had improved from a year ago but other countries were reforming at a faster speed.
“Losing one spot in the ranking of the ease of doing business was something to think about for Viet Nam,” Tuan was quoted by Tri Thuc Tre as saying.
For example, China had adopted seven regulatory reforms and Malaysia six reforms, while Viet Nam only had three reforms.
“Viet Nam needs to be more proactive and make greater effort to carry out regulatory reforms,” Tuan said.
He added that the starting a business indicator was the highlight, jumping 19 spots from a year ago.
Statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Business Registration Department showed that more than 109,000 firms were founded in January-October, but 92,000 shut down or suspended operations.
“Improvements to starting a business is just one aspect. Firms will need more than that to survive and develop in the market,” Tuan said.
He said that all management agencies must hasten reforms together with improving transparency to create favourable conditions for businesses.
New Zealand, Singapore, Denmark, Hong Kong and Korea were the top five countries on the report.
Doing Business 2019, the 16th in a series of annual reports, captured a record 314 regulatory reforms between June 2, 2017, and May 1, 2018.
The report this year measured regulations affecting ten areas of the life of a business, including: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Labor market regulations were not included in this year’s ranking. — VNS