16,000 businesses still need support to overcome COVID-19 impact
Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - About 16,000
businesses are not included in the Ministry of Finance’s support package on tax
and land rent, according to economic experts.
Pham Dinh Thi, director
of the Tax Policy Department under the Ministry of Finance, said about 98 percent
of businesses would benefit from the package with total tax and land rent being
extended to 180 trillion VND (7.67 billion USD).
However, economic experts said
that there are 2 percent of 800,000 enterprises nationwide, equivalent to 16,000
enterprises that have not been considered for tax
extension support.
Notably, more than 1,000
businesses in the beverage sector have been affected by COVID-19. Most of their goods are not
consumed, while more than 200,000 workers of the Vietnam Beer Alcohol Beverage Association (VBA) have had their work interrupted.
Nguyen Van Viet, VBA
chairman, said that not only workers but the State's revenue has also been affected by
the impact of COVID-19.
Every year, this association
contributes more than 60 trillion VND to the State
budget.
Therefore, the chairman proposed
the Government and the Ministry of Finance to consider and allow beverage
industries to be eligible for tax and land rent extension.
Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong, lecturer at
the National Economics University, said that in order to cover all
businesses hit by COVID-19, the Ministry of Finance should stipulate businesses
which are damaged by the pandemic will be supported
from the package, and not distinguish specific industries.
The National Economics University
recently made a report on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Vietnamese economy.
Results from the survey showed
that to deal with difficulties caused by the pandemic, 65.5 percent of
businesses cut down their regular operating costs; 35.3 percent of
enterprises had to reduce their workforce; 34 percent
had to cut workers' wages and 34.5 percent had to give workers leave
without pay.
Nearly 45 percent of businesses
cut production and business scale; 34.7 percent of businesses chose to suspend
production and business activities to wait through difficult times and 15.1 percent
of enterprises changed their business
and production form to suit the new context.
The report also showed that
although the COVID-19 pandemic is unlikely to
have an impact in the medium and long term, the economy would need at least one
quarter to recover after the pandemic is under control./.