Stronger measures to save businesses

At a recent Government meeting, Minister Dam said the national economy showed positive signs in the first quarter as export turnover maintained its growth.

Last year, foreign invested businesses saw export growth but the domestic economic sector is currently operating at 10 percent higher than last year.

More than 7,600 out of 13,000 (approximately 60 percent) businesses that stopped their operations in 2012 resumed work in the first quarter of this year.

However, there is growing concern about the socio-economic situation as the number of newly registered businesses remains low while that of businesses in difficulty is still high, Dam said.

Based on this fact, the Government has considered drastic solutions to help businesses overcome challenges, such as reducing corporate income tax and valued added tax and implementing more measures to create a favorable business environment.

The Government discussed ways to keep inflation at a normal rate in order to ensure business costs are maintained at a reasonable level.

To ease market and business difficulties, relevant agencies and ministries have been asked to work with the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to research a project to set up a National Debt Purchase and Sale Company, which would help deal with bad debts.

According to a Government report, total export earnings in the first quarter of 2013 reached US$29.69 billion, up 19.7 percent over the same quarter last year.

Total import turnover hit VND29.2 billion, up 17 percent, with the domestic economic sector increasing by 7.9 percent and the foreign-invested sector by 25.5 percent.

As of March 15, total State budget revenues were estimated at VND136,000 while budget spending was VND172,000 billion.

The first quarter’s GDP grew 4.89 percent, slightly more than the 4.75 percent recorded during the same period last year. The growth in the agricultural sector rose by 2.24 percent, industry and construction by 4.93 percent, and services by 5.65 percent.