Eleven leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises are gathering 5,000 signatures for an online letter to the PM, seeking support to ease the difficulties posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
SMEs seek government support to resume businesses. Illustrative photo
SMEs account for 97.8% of Vietnam’s businesses. They are facing numerous difficulties, and have had to halt businesses or reduce capacity during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, they still have to pay various costs to maintain businesses such as warehouse fees and insurance.
In the letter, the firms hope that they can be exempted from value-added taxes (VAT) in 2021 and have VAT reduced by half in the next two years. They are calling for corporate income taxes in 2021 to be reduced by half, and by 30% in the three following years after the outbreak in Vietnam ends. They also seek to be exempted from paying social insurance for workers from now to six months after the outbreak ends.
The firms also proposed to get preferential loans at 4% interest until 12 months after the outbreak in Vietnam ends. For firms that have to halt business and face liquidity problems, the government should allow banks to write accounts off as a loss or extend the deadline.
"We call for a plan so that firms can resume businesses gradually when workers are vaccinated fully," the firms wrote in the letter.
They proposed to let employees return to offices and factories after they have been given one Covid-19 vaccine shot. People who have been given two vaccine shots can travel to other provinces to work.
The letter will have 5,000 signatures of small and medium-sized firms before it is submitted to the PM and other ministries. As of 10 pm on August 29, the letter had 407 signatures.
