Experts call for government proactivity in SME support policies

July 14, 2014 | 16:47

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Authorities should better inform Vietnam’s SMEs about the many support policies available to ensure their effectiveness, experts said at a conference on July 7.

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According to results of a survey on SMEs’ access to information on support policies carried out by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, 50 per cent of SMEs surveyed said they weren’t aware of support policies that they may already be eligible for.

As many as 44 per cent of SMEs have no information on training courses on support policies, 20 per cent do, but find the training time unsuitable, and 12.4 per cent think the courses have no practical value.

There are currently 38 programmes in Vietnam to support SMEs.

Tran Van Luong, deputy director of the Industrial Safety Techniques and Environment Agency under the MoIT, said there should be consultants at the local level who can supply SMEs with information on support and help them complete the documents required to receive such support.

A representative of the SME Development Fund said there should be a government document that stipulates the responsibility of each ministry and agency, as well as localities, in helping firms access information and receive support. They should approach the firms first instead of waiting for firms to go to them.

There are more than 500,000 SMEs in Vietnam, accounting for 97.5 per cent of total enterprises and employing around 51 per cent of the country’s workforce. Their contribution to the economy comes to 40 per cent of annual GDP. The Vietnamese government is working to support SMEs as a driver of economic growth, which was at 4.96 per cent in the first quarter this year, the highest in three years for the same period.

By By Phan Long

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