Representatives of Quang Ninh receiving the award from VCCI Chairman Vu Tien Loc. (Photo: M.V)
The locality scored 70.36 points in a 100 point scale, followed by Dong Thap (70.19 points), Long An (68.09 points), and Ben Tre (67.67 points).
Rounding out the top ten are Da Nang, Binh Duong, Quang Nam, Vinh Long, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city. The provinces and cities that find themselves in the high and mid-performance tier are Can Tho, Lao Cai, Vinh Phuc, Tay Ninh, Bac Ninh, Hai Phong, Khanh Hoa, Thai Nguyen, Nghe An and Binh Dinh.
The 2018 PCI survey results showed noticeable improvement in some areas of provincial business environment, including declining informal charges, less biased business environment, and encouraging progress in administrative reforms. However, constant efforts by provincial governments are required to create a more enabling environment.
Transparency has yet to be improved, labor quality and business support services must be further enhanced, and administrative procedures need to be accelerated in areas such as business registration, land, taxes, social insurance, market management, transportation and construction.
According to the survey, the level of business optimism demonstrated in the PCI and PCI-FDI business indexes remains relatively high, with 49% of surveyed private firms and 56% of surveyed foreign invested enterprises planning to expand their operation in the coming two years.
The 2018 PCI report is the 14th iteration and is based on responses from over 12,000 enterprises, including nearly 11,000 domestic private enterprises from 63 provinces and cities, and more than 1,500 foreign invested enterprises in 20 localities.
The PCI report has been produced annually since 2005 to assess the ease of doing business, economic governance, and administrative reform efforts by provincial and city governments in Vietnam, in order to promote the development of the private sector./.