Vietnamese business competitiveness is a major problem but economists seem to believe merely increasing the number of operating firms by at least two million will go some way to solving the problem.
Vietnamese firms are still grappling with questions posed by increased international integration
Foreign countries now find it easier to export goods to Vietnam meaning local firms are facing fiercer competition.
“It seems that Vietnamese enterprises have yet to work out how to the most effectively integrate,” Tuan said.
Tuan added that enterprises must change their operations in order to enhance their competitiveness in a period of increased international integration.
Dang Duc Thanh, chairman of the Vietnamese Economists Club said that the ideology of economic development based on high levels of state investment was no longer realistic.
He pointed out several weaknesses in the country’s economy, including state budget overspending, large public debt, low power purchasing power, a high rate of bad debts, and high trade deficit.
Despite considerable improvements in the recent period, competitiveness of Vietnamese firms still remained modest.
The country now has over 800,0000 enterprises but apparently only half of them are still in operation.Thanh claimed there was evidence that "enterprises must account for at least 2% of a country’s population. This means that Vietnam needs to have over two million of efficiently operating enterprises.”
In order to facilitate business growth, it would be necessary to speed up the restructuring of state-owned enterprises which currently account for nearly 40% of the national economy.He added that it was also necessary to attract more foreign investment into the country.
