Urgently remove economic 'bottlenecks'

The economic "health" is declining

The gloomy economic picture, businesses and people facing great difficulties is the common opinion of many National Assembly (NA) deputies when discussing in groups about socio-economic issues, state budget in 2022, the first months of 2023 and many other contents, on the morning of May 25.

Delegate Le Thanh Van ( Ca Mau delegation), standing member of the Finance - Budget Committee, said that in the first months of the year, the number of newly registered businesses decreased, the number of unemployed workers increased. As of May 21, the Dong Nai Employment Service Center received 22,000 unemployment applications. "A small trader at Ben Thanh market (HCMC) said that there was a period of 2 consecutive weeks where he could not sell any goods. This shows that demand has decreased, due to difficulties, people have to "tighten their belts", there is no salary, businesses owe money, they do not have living expenses", Mr. Van said.

Need to remove bottlenecks to support struggling businesses

Delegate To Thi Bich Chau, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, cited that in the last months of 2022 and early 2023, the number of bankrupt, dissolved, and closed businesses increased dramatically. "If we observe the central locations of District 1, which were always bustling and bustling with trade, we will see that nearly 30% have closed. This is a very worrying issue," said Ms. Chau. According to the Ho Chi Minh City delegate, there have been many solutions to support, but these policies are not fundamental because the main thing is that the internal "health" of the economy is declining.

Delegate Nguyen Chu Hoi (Hai Phong delegation) acknowledged that the "health" of the economy is actually weak and lacks a foundation, so just one Covid-19 outbreak is enough to cause the economy to immediately fall into trouble, even lacking cash to spend, not to mention other issues. This delegate analyzed that we are only infatuated with the GDP growth index, while this is not the only index to assess the "health" of the economy.

"We just keep doing statistics and then suddenly feel happy, suddenly feel sad. When things are high, we applaud, when things are low, we sit and find ways to explain. That means we can't take the initiative in anything," Mr. Hoi said, adding that we need to clearly recognize what foundation we are standing on, strong or weak, hard or soft, in order to stand more firmly.

Many "blood clots"

Many deputies said that the internal "health" of the economy is declining due to the existence of many "bottlenecks". Deputy Ha Si Dong (Quang Tri delegation) cited that the state budget surplus deposited in the banking system has been quite high since 2019 and has increased significantly since 2022, surpassing the 1 quadrillion VND mark by mid-May.

"This is a painful problem. A poor country, always lacking capital for investment and development, is facing a paradox of having money in its pockets but not being able to spend it. This is also the "blood clot" that causes blockage of cash flow in the economy," Mr. Dong said, adding that this situation has actually been identified for quite a long time, the causes pointed out each year are getting longer, but the crux of the problem has not been completely resolved.

The Prime Minister has given strong instructions but the ministries and branches have not been resolute. It is necessary to submit to the National Assembly a request for all ministries and branches to join hands. All responsible people must ponder, think and calculate to find fundamental solutions. We cannot let fear of mistakes, fear of responsibility, or institutional entanglement hinder development.

Deputy Nguyen Minh Duc, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Defense and Security Committee

While millions of billions of dong are in the bank, Deputy Nguyen Hai Nam (Thua Thien-Hue delegation), Standing Member of the Economic Committee of the National Assembly, said that businesses have a very difficult time accessing capital. Not only the high interest rates, according to Mr. Nam, some banks also collect unofficial fees or suggest services such as insurance, causing difficulties for businesses. "The bank agrees to lend, but suggests buying additional insurance. If the business does not buy, the next day when they come to borrow capital, they avoid them, saying they are busy in a meeting," Mr. Nam said.

Many deputies said that the cause of the above gloomy situation, besides the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the world situation, the most important is the quality of institutions and officials. Mr. Le Thanh Van also said that the life cycle of laws is too short, showing that the legislative vision and strategic thinking are too short, eating in proportion, causing suffering to people and businesses. This deputy also mentioned some shortcomings. "This chairman, this term supports it, but in the next term, another chairman revokes the project. Meanwhile, businesses have invested hundreds of billions of dong in the project, then paid bank interest, so they died," Mr. Van said.

Entanglements, overlaps, and lack of overall vision and strategy in legal regulations also lead to congestion and stagnation in implementation.

Citing regulations on corporate bonds, Deputy Nguyen Hai Nam said that in 2020, Decree 153 of the Government was very open, many corporate bonds were not evaluated, leading to capital loss for people, including the poor. In 2022, after a number of incidents, the Government issued Decree 65 to tighten this activity. In 2023, the Government had to issue Decree 08 to amend and "remove difficulties" for this market. "If only when drafting the decree at the beginning, we had a relatively harmonious and overall viewpoint, the corporate bond market would not have been as difficult as it has been in the past few years," Deputy Nam said.

Local authorities ask for opinions from too many sectors

At the group discussion, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung assessed that the biggest challenges facing businesses at present are cash flow, market, orders and capital absorption capacity. However, the head of the Planning and Investment sector especially emphasized the current huge difficulty of administrative procedure congestion. Many businesses are complaining and worrying about the very slow implementation of procedures in many localities, especially in the context of officials avoiding, pushing, slowing down the progress of work.

"If we do not quickly resolve this issue, business operations will be hindered and businesses will face difficulties. If businesses face difficulties, it will affect the economy," Mr. Dung said, adding: "Local coordination is not close, too many opinions are asked from sectors, many of which are unnecessary. We need to rectify this immediately to support businesses."

Regarding this issue, Deputy Nguyen Huu Toan, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee, said that the most important solution at present is to strengthen the trust of civil servants and businesses. "Currently, there is a situation where everything is sent in writing to ask for opinions, meaning that if you don't want to do something, you just keep asking again and again. And doing so wastes opportunities and time for society," Mr. Toan said.

Deputy Nguyen Minh Duc, Vice Chairman of the National Defense and Security Committee of the National Assembly, cited the story of the stuck export of recycled waste products, despite the Government's guidance. According to Mr. Duc, the customs agency said the Government and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment had provided guidance, but there was no specific list, so the customs agency could not allow exports. "There is a company in Hung Yen with 3,000 workers that is currently stuck with more than 100,000 recycled products but cannot export them, greatly affecting the business's operations and the lives of workers," Mr. Duc said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Hoang Quoc Khanh, Deputy Head of the Lai Chau National Assembly Delegation, cited the example of sand mining for infrastructure projects which involves many laws and requires bidding, leading to delays. "If bidding is required, it may take more than a year to complete, by which time the project will have already been completed. We have sent a document to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, but the ministry has responded that it is still under research," said Mr. Khanh.

Delegate Nguyen Chu Hoi said that the current delay in planning is causing congestion and confusion for localities, leading to a situation where "no one dares to do anything, they just sit and complain". According to him, if management is decentralized well so that local leaders dare to make strong decisions, the situation can be turned around, creating competition between regions and localities. "But now we are just helpless, just waiting. Everyone understands, if just one person does not understand, everyone will die. This is an extremely difficult situation for localities if we cannot solve it", Mr. Hoi emphasized.

Many businesses are facing difficulties, affecting the lives of workers. In the photo: Workers at Tan Binh Industrial Park (HCMC) buy vegetables.

The key still lies in the staff

However, according to many delegates, the key cause still lies with officials, especially the situation of avoiding, pushing away, and fear of responsibility by officials and civil servants in recent times.

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra (Yen Bai delegation) admitted that currently there is a situation where a large number of cadres, civil servants and public employees work half-heartedly, push things around, avoid, lack responsibility, and are afraid of making mistakes in performing their duties. According to Ms. Tra, these are signs of degradation, hindering development and reducing people's trust in the cadres and civil servants in the state administrative system.

Can't wait and see

Delegate Nguyen Chu Hoi (Hai Phong delegation) also reflected on the situation that businesses are also falling into a "wait and see" situation. "For the economy, the wait and see of those who hold the country's resources will cause us to lose opportunity costs. Losing opportunity costs in the economy is a priceless loss," Mr. Hoi emphasized, saying that this is what is happening and "without a solution, it is very dangerous."

Affirming that we must have a very clear attitude and "cannot defend" these manifestations in the context of the country's current difficulties, Ms. Tra said that recently, the Prime Minister has paid great attention to this issue and the Government has issued many directives on strengthening discipline and order in the state administrative system; promoting studying and following Ho Chi Minh's style and morality...

However, Deputy Nguyen Minh Duc said that to resolve this situation, we need to be more drastic. "The Prime Minister has given strong instructions, but the ministries and branches are not drastic enough. We need to bring it to the National Assembly and request all ministries and branches to join hands. All responsible people must worry, think and calculate to find fundamental solutions. We cannot let fear of mistakes, fear of responsibility, or institutional entanglement hinder development," according to Mr. Duc.

Deputy Le Thanh Van proposed that the National Assembly should supervise the implementation of the responsibilities and powers of the leaders in the system. "The Prime Minister is actively fighting left and right, but ministers, heads of sectors, and even local Party committees are not in sync. There must be rectification," Mr. Van suggested.

Improving the investment environment is indeed very important.

Deputy Chairman of the Economic Committee Nguyen Dinh Viet said that according to a survey by the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in 2022, up to 71.7% of enterprises agreed with the statement that "harassment in handling procedures for enterprises is common", significantly higher than the figure of 57.4% in 2021. "Currently, enterprises and people are facing many difficulties, attracting FDI investment is showing signs of decline, a huge challenge. Improving the investment and business environment is essentially very important and meaningful", the Deputy Chairman of the Economic Committee emphasized.

Resolving difficulties for enterprises and liberating domestic capacity are also issues that many delegates mentioned. Delegate Le Thanh Van (Ca Mau delegation) said that corporations, general companies with brands, and start-up companies must be considered national enterprises and need to be "nurtured". Expressing the view that economic and civil relations should not be criminalized, Mr. Van said that cases under the direction of the Central Steering Committee on anti-corruption and anti-negativity must be accelerated and strictly handled to build trust for investors and enterprises. "If it drags on, all enterprises will be worried, nervous, and afraid that they will commit similar violations, so they will not dare to do anything," Mr. Van said.

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra also said that the Government is implementing many solutions. Specifically, building and perfecting institutions because there are still overlapping, contradictory aspects that are not suitable to practical requirements such as the fields of investment, budget finance, public investment, etc. Ms. Tra also said that it is necessary to promote decentralization, decentralization, abandon the habit of asking for opinions, asking for policies, and reaching consensus before agencies, organizations, and local authorities exercise the powers prescribed in the law.

Ms. Tra also informed that the Ministry of Home Affairs is advising the Government to issue a decree on encouraging and protecting dynamic, creative cadres who dare to think, dare to do, dare to take responsibility for the common good, but this content is entangled with many legal regulations. Therefore, the Ministry of Home Affairs is reporting to the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee to have a pilot resolution on encouraging and protecting cadres who dare to think and dare to do. After that, the Prime Minister will issue a decree.

However, according to Ms. Tra, the most important thing is the role and responsibility of the leader in daring to think, daring to do, daring to take responsibility and resolutely handling officials who show signs of avoidance and shirking.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/gap-rut-xoa-cac-diem-nghen-kinh-te-185230526000520153.htm