(VOVWORLD) - Vietnam climbed 14 places to 68th out of 190 economies in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2018 rankings. This is Vietnam’s most impressive showing ever and reflects the Vietnamese government’s efforts to create favorable conditions for businesses.
Doing Business 2018: Reforming to Create Jobs is the 15th in a series of the World Bank Group’s annual reports measuring the regulations that enhance or constrain business activity. Vietnam, with 39 reforms, was listed among the countries that have implemented the most reforms in the past 15 years.
The World Bank’s report also shows that Vietnam has carried out many effective economic reforms in the past year. Specifically, Vietnam has improved 8 out of 10 performance indicators, 5 of which strongly affect business environment: obtaining credit, paying taxes, using electricity, trading across borders, and enforcing contracts.
Since July, businesses have enjoyed more favorable conditions for accessing credit, thanks to banks’ reducing in their annual interest rate from 7% to 6.5% for businesses in agriculture, support industries, high-tech, and small and medium-sized enterprises. Vietnam’s obtaining credit indicator increased 5 points and rose 3 places to rank 29th out of 190 countries. Its paying taxes indicator rose to 86th place. Truong Duc Tung, Deputy General Director of Tri Nam Technology Development Investment Joint Stock Company, said: "The application of high tech in doing business will enhance transparency and make it easier for businesses. Cutting down administrative procedures and cost will be a big help to enterprises."
Vietnam is working to improve its business environment for the long run, especially in granting licenses for construction and investment projects. Nguyen Minh Thao, Head of the Department of Business Environment and Competitiveness at Vietnam’s Central Institute of Economic Management, said: "Vietnam’s starting businesses indicator remains low, indicating many shortcomings in this area. The increase of Vietnam’s trading across borders indicator was not remarkable given that its neighbors’ indicators also rose sharply. We must try harder to improve these indicators in the future."
Since the beginning of this year, some 100,000 businesses have been established in Vietnam and 97% of them have generated revenues and paid taxes, reflecting the favorable business environment in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government is now pursuing many incentives in order to create a better business environment and enhance national competitiveness.