The number of SMEs that go bankrupt or have to temporarily stop operating has been on the rise, while most of the enterprises spent very little on technology application, Dong noted. He stressed the need to thoroughly study the contents of the bill for the early adoption in order to provide timely support for the development of SMEs.
According to Nguyen Hoa Cuong, Deputy Director General of the MoPI’s Enterprise Development Agency, the five-chapter and 33-article bill introduces a number of support incentives for SMEs, particularly in terms of access to funding and technology, securing land for operation, information update and consultancy. VCCI Secretary-General Pham Thi Thu Hang said it is vital to ensure that the support policies are practical and suitable to domestic SMEs who are still struggling to compete with their foreign rivals.
The bill needs more feedback and recommendations from experts and businesses and should be reviewed with reference to international experience, she suggested. The law itself is not enough but should go with the change in how authorities and state officials work with enterprises, she added.
This year and in the future, the private sector, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are expected to be a driving force for economic growth. While a law supporting SMEs is set to be issued soon, the government is making efforts to ease business conditions for these firms, especially in accessing loans.
The Government entrusted the ministry to set up an SME support fund to provide businesses with preferential loans through commercial banks. The ministry has also proposed the Government establish business incubators that encourage creative ideas from businesses and people, especially the young.
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) contribute 40 percent of national GDP but the proportion is expected to fall as competition will increase under new international free trade agreements. SMEs make up 95 percent of total national enterprises. The economy also includes 3.5 million privately run household businesses, 10 million farmer households and 140,000 co-operatives.
SMEs are involved in every kind of business, including retail, wholesale, manufacturing, production and in fields that are typically State-owned, such as electricity, gas, water supply, mineral exploitation, information and telecommunications. To support SMEs, the Government and authorities have created 14 programmes for information management, 15 for technology development, and eight others for finance and tax.
