Concerns of private enterprises

At the seminar “Solutions to promote private economic development” organized by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper on the morning of March 20, Mr. Le Tri Thong - General Director of Phu Nhuan Jewelry Joint Stock Company (PNJ) - said that the jewelry and gold bar industries use the same materials but are not completely the same.

Jewelry is a normal consumer product, with domestic consumption only worth 1-2 billion USD/year. Compared to imported luxury goods such as handbags or cosmetics, domestic jewelry consumption does not affect the general balance.

However, according to Mr. Thong, difficulties in importing raw gold are affecting the jewelry industry. To have a skilled jewelry maker, businesses must spend about 10 years training.

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PNJ General Director Le Tri Thong made a recommendation at the discussion. Photo: Hoang Trieu

“Faced with the shortage of raw gold supply, many jewelry artisans have begun to leave the profession. Building a skilled workforce is not easy. There needs to be appropriate policies for jewelry businesses to access raw gold,” he suggested.

Mr. Do Ha Nam - Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of Intimex Group Corporation (Intimex Group) - said that during the development process, his company faced two major difficulties: borrowing capital and tax refund.

Regarding loans, Mr. Nam said that Intimex Group spends most of the cash flow from trade to invest in factories, because without factories, banks will not lend money. To date, the company has 30 factories processing coffee, rice, pepper, cashew, etc. and always repays debts on time.

In addition, businesses still face risks related to tax refunds, with some businesses still owing hundreds of billions of dong that have not been refunded," said the leader of Intimex Group, who recommended removing obstacles in tax refund policies.

In addition to the mechanism to support leading enterprises, Mr. Do Ha Nam said that management agencies need to participate with farmers to regulate the agricultural market, because Vietnam has world-leading products such as pepper and coffee.

“Coffee growers in Vietnam are regulating the world market. Farmers still have a lot of coffee in stock, but businesses have no way to buy it. For example, if farmers sell all at once today, the price of coffee will fall in the afternoon. But if they do not sell, the price will definitely go up. This has been verified on the London exchange,” Mr. Nam shared.

Talking about his business trip to Indonesia about 30 years ago, Mr. Phan Dinh Tue - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bamboo Airways - shared that at that time he worked at a coffee production company in the Central Highlands with an output of 10,000 tons/year.

“When we went to a neighboring country and visited the coffee growing area, the delegation was welcomed by the provincial governors and escorted by police cars. Telling this story is not to compare but to show how much their country values ​​private enterprises,” said Mr. Tue.

Mr. Phan Dinh Tue's point of view: Private enterprises and state-owned enterprises both contribute to building the country, so there needs to be real equality, not just slogans.

Regarding the relationship between the State and private enterprises, according to Mr. Tue, it must be like that between enterprises and customers. State agencies should be proactive, see what customers want to respond, that is, prepare the mechanisms and policies that enterprises need and expect.

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Bamboo Airways leaders talk about a business trip 30 years ago. Photo: Hoang Trieu

“The aviation business is very difficult. To be effective, there must be an ecosystem related to infrastructure such as terminals, parking lots, maintenance, etc. When private airlines deploy these services, it is not as convenient as state-owned enterprises. There must be clear and public policies for all aviation enterprises to access and implement, so that all enterprises are equal,” said the leader of Bamboo Airways.

No equal support for businesses

BIDV Chief Economist Dr. Can Van Luc said that preliminary statistics show that the country currently has 5.2 million business households. Of these, only about 2.1 million business households have registered and paid taxes. According to the assessment, although considered effective, lump-sum tax still has a mechanism of asking and giving, is not transparent, causing budget loss.

“Therefore, the State needs to have a mechanism to encourage business households to become micro-enterprises, moving towards transparent tax collection. It is necessary to change the perspective on the private economy, shifting from control to creation. First, it is necessary to promptly amend the Law on Support for Small and Medium Enterprises 2017, especially the tax policy for small and micro-enterprises,” Dr. Can Van Luc proposed.

According to BIDV's chief economist, it is necessary to classify enterprises by size for management. Because if all enterprises apply the same procedures, it will be very complicated. At the same time, we should not support enterprises in a level-playing manner, but should support enterprises based on their actual contribution level, not based on their size.

Sharing the same view, economic expert Associate Professor Dr. Tran Hoang Ngan said that if the country's economy wants to develop in an independent, autonomous and self-reliant direction, it must rely on the people's strength, that is, the private economy.

According to statistics, the private economy mobilizes 82% of the labor force and 60% of total social investment capital. This year, with a GDP growth target of more than 8%, the economic scale will increase by 500 billion USD, equivalent to 12.5 million billion VND. Thus, 174 billion USD of social investment capital is needed. Of which, the private economic sector accounts for 60%.

For Ho Chi Minh City alone, to achieve GRDP growth of 10% this year, the economic scale needs to be about 2 million billion VND. Of which, social investment capital accounts for 33%, equivalent to 660,000 billion VND, but public investment capital is only capable of meeting 120,000 billion VND. Thus, the private economic sector must meet about 450,000 billion VND. The solution to mobilize this capital source is a difficult problem.

Associate Professor Dr. Tran Hoang Ngan suggested that when issuing support policies, it is necessary to pay attention to the contribution of private enterprises. This contribution must be diverse from the budget, export turnover to labor settlement.

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