Mr Cung said that Vietnam’s ranking should have been 80/178 instead of 91/178.

What are your comments about the fifth report on business environment ‘Doing business 2008’?

I’m happy that Vietnam has made considerable progress compared to last year’s report. However, I think that the report by the WB and IFC employs several out-of-date factors about Vietnam, though I do not deny that there exist many problems in the business environment that need to be improved.

What are the out-of-date factors, then?

Regarding the formalities to set up business, the report said that businessmen have to fulfill 11 formalities which take 50 days. However, these were the figures of 2000. Currently, in Vietnam, businesses have to fulfill six steps of formalities only, and they need 15-20 days at maximum to fulfill the procedures.

I think that the experts who made the report did not have updated information, which could help give a more accurate conclusion about Vietnam’s business environment.

Besides, I also have doubts about the figure of 1,050 hours that the report said was the time enterprises needed to pay tax. I read all the reports by WB released in recent years, and I found out that the figure of 1,050 hours appeared in all the reports of the last three years. You know, life changes everyday, and it is illogical to see the figure unchanged in the last three years.

The law enforcement capability in Vietnam has been improved considerably in the last few years. Many enterprises have been using IT and improving their internal management mechanism, therefore, the expenses for obeying laws must have been reduced, and the time needed to pay tax must have been lowered from the initial figure of 1,050 hours.

Do you think that problems exist in the report’s methodology?

Truly speaking I have some doubts about the methodology. We do not reject the shortcomings which we must settle to have a better business environment. However, I think that the reforms in Vietnam need to be popularised, so that investors and businessmen have an accurate view of Vietnam.

What ranking do you think should have been given to Vietnam?

If considering the factors I mentioned before, Vietnam should have been ranked 30^th instead of 97^th in the indicator for setting up business, and 66^th instead of 128^th in paying tax. I think that Vietnam should be ranked 80^th among the 178 countries, not 91^st as seen in the WB’s and IFC’s report.

Source: VNE