According to the results of the 2023 Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI), surveyed recently by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Thanh Hoa 's PCI has shown signs of recovery after many years of continuous decline. However, its 30th position is still below Thanh Hoa's expectations, and the fact that these indicators remain at relatively low scores still shows limitations in governance that Thanh Hoa needs to further improve in the future.
Civil servants from departments and agencies handle administrative procedures for businesses and citizens at the Thanh Hoa Provincial Public Administrative Service Center.
With 66.79 points, Thanh Hoa's PCI index in 2023 improved by 17 ranks. However, Thanh Hoa's PCI still ranks 30th nationwide. Along with significant improvements in key component indicators compared to the previous year, such as: time costs increasing from 6.78 to 8.09 points; government dynamism increasing from 6.38 to 7.17 points; business support policies increasing from 6.76 to 7.19 points; informal costs increasing from 6.5 to 6.74; and market entry increasing from 6.54 to 7.04 points, some component indicators still showed low increases, such as: labor training increasing from 5.1 to 5.58 points; and transparency increasing from 5.51 to 5.94 points. In addition, two other indicators also declined: fair competition, from 5.31 to 5.0 points; and legal institutions and security and order, from 7.92 to 7.42.
In particular, the Fair Competition Index is one of the indicators where Thanh Hoa has consistently performed poorly for many years. Thanh Hoa's score in 2019 was 4.81 points; in 2020 it was 5.95 points; in 2021 it was 5.70 points; in 2022 it was 5.31 points; and in 2023 it continued to decline to 5.0 points. This reflects the fact that the business community has not highly appreciated the efforts of the government at all levels in creating a level playing field for businesses in terms of resources, credit, administrative procedures, and especially in land access. This is also consistent with the reality that, according to feedback from businesses, small and micro-enterprises operating in the province are still at a disadvantage and receive less favorable conditions in accessing production resources compared to leading corporations and companies nationwide, and foreign-invested enterprises.
Furthermore, the transparency component index in 2023 only saw a slight improvement, increasing from 5.51 to 5.94 points. Previously, Thanh Hoa's index had never exceeded 7 points and consistently maintained low scores in recent years, notably: 6.91 points in 2019; 5.34 points in 2020; 6.02 points in 2021; and 5.51 points in 2022. Meanwhile, this index is assessed based on two aspects: businesses' access to information and their opportunities to participate in the policy-making process, provide feedback, and monitor policy implementation – two very important indicators in building a favorable investment and business environment.
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In fact, with a strong determination to improve its PCI index, Thanh Hoa province has implemented many specific solutions in managing economic policies. Particularly, since 2021, with the implementation of the Provincial Department and District People's Committee Competitiveness Index (DDCI), Thanh Hoa has clearly demonstrated its stance and decisive direction to overcome the situation where "departments and lower-level governments do not properly implement the policies and guidelines of the provincial leadership" - an aspect of the component index on the dynamism of the government, leading to the ineffective implementation of policies at the higher levels at the lower levels, a problem that has persisted for many years in Thanh Hoa.
Speaking at the conference announcing the 2023 Thanh Hoa Provincial DDCI Index, Mr. Dau Anh Tuan, Standing Committee Member, Deputy Secretary General of the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry , and PCI Project Director, shared: “In addition to the indicators showing good improvement, Thanh Hoa needs to pay special attention to solutions for improving the indicators that are still in the lower ranks, namely: the market entry index, which is ranked 49th out of 63; informal costs, ranked 54th out of 63; fair competition, ranked 56th out of 63; and access to land, ranked 43rd out of 63”...
According to Mr. Tuan, the 2023 PCI survey noted several difficulties in the business environment in Thanh Hoa, such as: 63% of businesses reported difficulties in accessing credit; 54% faced difficulties in finding customers; 45% reported a volatile market; and 19% of businesses reported difficulties due to changes in policies and laws.
The journey to achieve the goal of raising Thanh Hoa province's PCI index to be among the top 10 localities nationwide by 2025 presents significant challenges, requiring stronger change and determination, more comprehensive and noticeable transformation, and more decisive action in leadership, management, and task implementation, especially at the grassroots level in the coming period.
Text and photos: Minh Hang
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