Vietnam has lost one spot from last year on the World Bank’s ease of doing business report to rank 69th.(Photo: laodong.vn)
Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam has lost one spot from last year on the World Bank’s ease of doing business report to rank 69th out of 190 countries and territories.
The Southeast Asian nations earned an ease of doing business (EODB) score of 68.36 points, gaining 1.59 points from a year ago, according to the Doing Business 2019 report themed: “Training for Reform”.
Compared to other ASEAN countries, Vietnam’s was behind Singapore’s second position, Malaysia (15th), Thailand (27th) and Brunei (55th), and only higher than Indonesia (73rd), the Philippines (124th), Cambodia (138th), Laos (154th) and Myanmar (171st).
According to the report, Vietnam had made starting a business easier by publishing the notice of incorporation online and by reducing the cost of business registration,
In addition, paying taxes was also easier because companies no longer had to submit hard copies of value added tax returns. Vietnam had also cut taxes by reducing employers’ contributions to the labour fund.
The report also pointed out that Vietnam had made enforcing contracts easier by making judgments rendered at all levels in commercial cases available to the public online.
Among the ten sectors that the report covered, Vietnam earned higher scores in seven indicators, including getting electricity (up by 9.25 points) and starting a business (up by 2.80 points).
However, only four indicators jumped higher in the rankings, including starting a business, registering property, getting electricity and enforcing contracts.
Statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Business Registration Department showed that more than 109,000 firms were founded in January-October, but 92,000 shut down or suspended operations.
New Zealand, Singapore, Denmark, Hong Kong and the Republic of Korea were the top five countries on the report.
Doing Business 2019, the 16th in a series of annual reports, captured a record 314 regulatory reforms between June 2, 2017, and May 1, 2018.
The report this year measured regulations affecting ten areas of the life of a business, including: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Labor market regulations were not included in this year’s ranking.-VNA
VNA
