The forum took place as
part of the macroeconomic reforms/green growth program in Vietnam funded by the
German Government via the German agency for international cooperation
GIZ.
Photo: customsnews.vn
CIEM Director Nguyen Dinh Cung said it is necessary to immediately
remove obstacles to accelerate the disbursement of state investment capital
right from the beginning of 2018 to avoid a recurrence of the sluggishness in
the last two years. He also urged better use of State-owned and private
enterprises’ capital.
"The efficiency of
foreign invested firms in Vietnam is very high, even three times higher than
State-owned and private firms in terms of the return on invested capital.
Therefore, it is crucial to improve domestic businesses’ competitiveness,” he
analyzed.
He suggested creating
"pressure” for the elimination of at least one-third or half of the business
conditions, and at least half of the number of goods subject to specialized
export-import examination while reforming management methodology.
Another factor expected
to promote Vietnamese goods’ competitiveness on domestic and foreign markets is
slashing logistics costs, which will help improve the country’s export value
chains, Cung noted, adding that relevant agencies also need to instruct and
assist businesses to comply with regulations instead of fining them.
Nguyen Tham, former Vice
Chairman of the Vietnam Logistics Business Association, said without positive
changes and stronger solutions, the burden of unofficial expenses and logistics
costs will greatly affect goods’ cost price. This will directly impact the
country’s goods value chains and Vietnamese commodities’ competitiveness both
at home and abroad.
Meanwhile, Dr. Pham The
Anh from the National Economics University said the exchange rate policy should
be flexible to enhance Vietnamese goods’ competitiveness.
He elaborated that the
State Bank of Vietnam began setting the daily reference VND/USD exchange rate
in 2016 based on a currency basket of the country’s biggest economic partners,
but this mechanism is not enough to support foreign trade activities. Vietnam’s
exchange rate policy is still in a dilemma as it has to ensure inflation
control along with public debt stability and trade promotion.
A floating exchange rate
mechanism under management will bring about more benefits than the current
fixed one. However, this mechanism still needs certain conditions to be applied
and prove effective, Anh added.
Only when bottlenecks are
removed and new growth momentum is created can sustainable development be
promoted, according to participants in the forum.
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