Policy support needed to boost business growth: insiders

Hanoi (VNA) – Without a more effective business support package, the country’s goal of 6.5 percent in gross domestic product (GDP) growth for this year will be hard to be achieved as the GDP growth in the first six months of 2021 is forecast to reach only 5.8 percent, according to experts.

Nguyen Xuan Phu, Chairman of Sunhouse Group, said that like many other large-scale firms, Sunhouse hopes to receive support in policy rather than financial assistance.

The country currently has about 500 large-scale enterprises that contribute 60-70 percent to the State budget, making it impossible to provide a common support package for all of them, noted Phu, stressing that support in policy will be much more effective.

Businesses need a smoother mechanism and simplier administrative procedures so that they can focus on production, as COVID-19 has created development opportunities for many firms, said Phu.

Meanwhile, Than Duc Viet, General Director of May 10, another big-sized enterprise, said that the current support package has yet to be able to help businesses overcome difficulties although many areas are eying opportunities to rise due to recovering demand in the world market.

Viet said that in 2020, May 10 and other firms in the garment-textile sector faced difficulties in both input and sale, in 2021, the situation has changed completely with abundant orders.

About 90 percent of the company’s products are exported to the US, the EU and Japan with orders enough for production until the end of this year, but without favourable mechanisms and policies to help businesses to attract labourers and protect them against COVID-19, the firms can hardly complete their orders.

Although the number of COVID-19 cases has exceeded 12,500, Vietnam has still been considered one of the most successful countries in the world in pandemic control.

Nguyen Duc Kien, head of the Prime Minister’s economic advisory team, said that Vietnamese firms are eying great opportunities to win the world market when other large suppliers such as India, Bangladesh and Myanmar are struggling with the pandemic.

The current fiscal, monetary and social security support has been no longer suitable to large-scale firms, he held, adding that it is necessary to design another support package – support in policy.

Kien added that the current time is also a great chance for Vietnam to increase foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction. Along with the effective control of the pandemic, it is crucial to design new and stronger support policies to promote economic growth and complete the target of at least 6.5 percent GDP growth this year and following years, stressed Kien.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong said that the pandemic has changed the mindset of many big and strategic investors on the formation of a production hub to diversify supply chains and distributing the supply chains in the globe, including in Vietnam.

According to Phuong, the support package for FDI companies cannot be the same as those for small and medium-sized enterprises, but it is necessary to give breakthrough policies and mechanisms.

“We should not organise traditional roadshows or trade promotion events in other countries. So how we can persuade investors to pour a large amount of capital into Vietnam without having to visit the country? To do so, we must give another support package with assistance in policy and mechanism,” stated Phuong./.