With strengthened access to credit and improvement in tax reforms, Viet Nam moved up 14 places to rank 68 among 190 countries in the 15th edition of the World Bank’s Doing Business 2018 report, themed “Reforming to Create Jobs.”

The annual report, comparing business regulations for domestic firms and ease of doing business in 190 economies, was issued on Tuesday.

Viet Nam jumped nine places to rank 82nd in the previous report.

The World Bank’s report acknowledged significant improvements of Viet Nam in the areas of getting electricity, getting credit, paying taxes, trading across borders and enforcing contracts.

“Viet Nam increased the reliability of power supply by rolling out a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition automatic energy management for the monitoring of outages and the restoration of service,” the report wrote.

By adopting a new civil code that broadens the scope of assets that can be used as collateral, the country also strengthened access to credit.

The country also made paying taxes easier by abolishing the 12-month mandatory carry forward period for VAT credit and by introducing and enhancing systems for filing and paying taxes online.

Exporting and importing were also made easier with automated cargo clearance system and extension in the operating hours of the customs department.

In addition, Viet Nam, by adopting a new code of civil procedure and by introducing a consolidated law on voluntary mediation, strengthened its regulatory environment and made enforcing contracts easier, the report said.

Viet Nam ranked fifth in ASEAN, coming after Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei.

The top three economies in the World Bank’s global ranking were New Zealand, Singapore and Denmark.

Doing Business captures the effectiveness and quality of business regulations based on 11 indicator sets, namely starting a business, resolving insolvency, enforcing contracts and paying taxes, as well as trading across borders, protecting minority investors, getting credit and registering property, along with getting electricity, dealing with construction permits and labour market regulation.

The Government of Viet Nam has in recent years enhanced the efforts to improve the business climate and national competitiveness as well as a number of policies to support businesses, including resolutions 19 and 35.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2017-18 issued in late September ranked Viet Nam 55th, up five places from last year, acknowledging improvements in institutions, infrastructure, macro-economic environment, trade and health and primary education. — VNS