Secretary of the Hanoi Municipal Party Committee Vuong Dinh Hue speaks at the event (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Secretary of the Hanoi Municipal Party Committee VuongDinh Hue has said that the city is willing to listen to enterprises’ feedback tountie “knots” regarding policies, site clearance and planning adjustments, as publicand private investment is an economic lifesaver of the city's economy.
During a dialogue withbusinesses in Hanoi on April 16, Hue said the COVID-19 pandemic is seriously hurting theworld economy, including Vietnam. Hanoi’s economy grew by 3.72 percent in thefirst quarter this year, lower than the country’s average.
Calling on investorsto develop agriculture, he said Hanoi is determined to raise agriculture’s growthby 4.62 percent this year by increasing heads of cattle and poultry.
According to the official, thecity is reviewing land plots so as not to leave them unused. In the outlyingdistrict of Ba Vi, 41 ha could be used for clean vegetable cultivation so thatinvestors could consider working on them immediately, he said.
Hue said the municipalauthorities will also hold a working session with the Ministry of Informationand Communications next week to achieve the target of having one business, even a start-up in the field of information technology, digital economy and publicservices, per 1,000 people.
About public investment,Hanoi has had over 107 trillion VND (4.65 billion USD) over the past five years, or 10 percent of thecountry’s total, he said, adding that the city stays determined to disburse nearly 40 trillion VND of public investment to ease difficulties for businesses.
In order to mitigatethe impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic, he said Hanoi will continue effectivelyimplementing the Law on Support for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs),process administrative procedures online at level 3, and step up onlineregistration for procedures involving businesses at level 4.
In his view, Hanoiwill promptly devise a scheme to support SMEs for the 2021-2025 period, booststart-ups and innovation, improve the quality and diversify business supportservices, as well as realise the Government’s mechanisms and policies to backproduction, trade and social welfare for those hit by the epidemic in line withresolutions by the Party Central Committee, the Government and the municipalParty Committee.
Speaking at the event,Chairwoman of BRG Group Nguyen Thi Nga suggested that the Ministry of Planning andInvestment should reduce corporate tax by 50 percent, apply added value tax from 0percent or cut it by 50 percent, and offer land use tax exemption.
Other corporateexecutives also proposed tax exemption or reduction.
In the first quarterof this year, Hanoi’s regional gross domestic product rose by 3.72 percent, industrialindex up 4.44 percent, total retail up 2.3 percent. The total social investmenthiked by 5.2 percent to 63.04 trillion VND.
There were 6,350newly-registered firms, raising the total to over 285,300 as of March 31.
During the period, more than 4,200 companies suspended operations, up 36percent year-on-year. Exports reached over 2.74 billion USD, down 18.1 percentwhile imports topped 5.83 billion USD, down 21.3 percent annually.
Almost all sectors saw decreasein revenues, including textile and garment down 30 percent, footwear 20percent, transportation and hospitality services 20-50 percent./.
