Nationwide economic survey starts from March 1

Hanoi (VNA) – The General Statistics Office (GSO) is conducting a nationwide economic survey from March 1 to evaluate the performance of economic and administrative units from grassroots to central levels.

The move aims to examine the efficiency of business operation, the application of information and technology, and the structure of manufacturing agencies and distribution of workers in each locality and economic sector, said Director of the GSO Nguyen Bich Lam in a recent interview with Vietnam News Agency.

The GSO will devise statistics criteria in 2016 – the first year of the socio-economic development strategy through 2020 and the national gross domestic product and gross regional domestic product targets, and update a database on businesses.

A new point of this year’s survey is collecting data on foreign non-governmental organisations in Vietnam to fully assess manufacturing activities of all economic organisations and individuals, he said.

The agency will also use information from the taxation sector, the State treasury, and other State management agencies on health, education-training, culture-sports, and information-communication as references.

The survey will be carried out in two periods, with the first running from March 1 for businesses and administrative units, and the second from July 1 for individual manufacturing facilities and religious organisations.

The statistics sector will work with relevant ministries and sectors from central to local levels to carry out the vital economic inspection, Lam said.

Basic information collected from the survey will reveal the operational efficiency of State-run and non-State enterprises as well as foreign-invested companies, small-and medium-sized enterprises, and cooperatives, he said.

Additionally, data on how processing, manufacturing and assembling businesses access capital and new technologies will evaluate their competitiveness and economic integration, he added.

Such information is valuable to reflect the state of the economy in 2016, thus helping devise policies to boost economic growth, he noted.-VNA