Although more than 90 percent of manufacturers in Vietnam are still in small and medium enterprises, they have performed digital transformation strongly, which also impacts the country's economic growth beneficially.
International capital has flowed into many Vietnamese banks in 2022, which is a good sign indicating the capacity of domestic joint stock commercial banks.
Currently, 16 commercial banks have guaranteed to reduce the interest rate for loans from 0.5 percent point to three percent per year with a total amount of around VND3,500 billion (US$148 million) to support enterprises.
Many commercial banks are prepared to inject more than VND200,000 billion worth of cash into markets after the State Bank of Vietnam approved the expansion of the credit room.
Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai informed that the city is focusing on implementing 18 projects, reviewing and completing the project of replacing 20,000 houses on and along the canals and developing worker accommodation, and social housing programs.
The Center for Statistics and Science and Technology Information of Ho Chi Minh City (CESTI – under the HCMC Department of Science and Technology) has just cooperated with Lien Minh Mechatronics Co. Ltd. to introduce ‘AIoT Cloud – Solution for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in Digital Transformation’.
At the meeting to receive New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai affirmed the southern largest city is determined to promote cooperation activities in tourism and education, climate change credit program, reduction of emissions in agriculture, developing plant varieties with high yield and quality with localities and businesses New Zealand.
According to the reports of HCMC's departments and organizations, many solutions have been implemented to support businesses to remove difficulties and stimulate economic development.
Traditional security measures using software can now no longer stop cyber-attacks and phishing, which are increasing and more serious. Internet users are, therefore, warned to upgrade their general knowledge on these dangerous activities to better protect themselves.
The financial industry has lately concentrated on developing IT applications to help businesses and individuals in online tax declaration, finalization, and payment. With the newly launched ‘eTax Mobile’, these tasks can be completed easily just with a mobile phone.
Over the past time, e-commerce in Vietnam has made remarkable progress. It is estimated that over 90 percent of internet users welcomed online shopping as a part of their daily life in Vietnam while the growth rate of e-commerce in recent years has always been high, at over 20 percent per year.
Deputy Tran Thi Dieu Thuy said that departments and agencies necessarily assess bottlenecks in the coordination between them because more than 50 percent of small and medium enterprises do not even know about the law to support SMEs.
Considered a major printing center of the country for many years, the printing industry in Ho Chi Minh City has not only met domestic demand but also carried out many outsourcing orders for foreign countries especially after the Covid-19 epidemic, with its efforts, the industry has gradually recovered. It has become inevitable for the printing industry, to keep up with other countries and technologies, to start using digital technologies to meet customer needs in the best way.
Enterprises in Vietnam have thirst for high-quality laborers; accordingly, it is necessary to have a training mechanism, wage reform, and create a good working environment to attract and retain high-quality human resources in the state sector because highly qualified and skilled workers are the driving force in each agency and enterprise for rapid and sustainable development, said Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
Because of clear recognition of the shortcomings in export processing zones and industrial zones (EPZs-IZs), the People's Committee in Ho Chi Minh City has assigned the Export Processing zone and Industrial Park Authority (HEPZA) to develop a ‘Project for the development of EPZs and IZs in the southern largest city towards efficiency and innovation for the period of 2021-2025 and a vision to 2030’.
Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son joined his ASEAN counterparts in meetings with the US, India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the EU, and Russia on August 4 within the framework of the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM-55) and related meetings in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Although Decree 31/2022/ND-CP of the State Government offers support to businesses, cooperatives, and business householders at 2 percent interest rate when borrowing from commercial banks, there is still a strict criterion in place. Decree 31 is a lifesaver for businesses and individuals to recover production back to normal, but the interest rate is not favorable for everyone.
Recently, e-commerce in Vietnam is assessed to grow robustly. It is forecasted that Vietnam's internet economy will reach US$57 billion by 2025, ranking second in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia.
Through the first months of 2022, thanks to the efforts and creativity of start-ups as well as timely support from the Government, the innovative start-up ecosystem in the country has made impressive recovery steps after the Covid-19 pandemic. It is forecast that investment funds will continue to pour capital into Vietnamese startups, and may reach an impressive level of more than US$2 billion in 2022.
