On September 14, at the Government Headquarters, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a conference of the Government Standing Committee working with state-owned enterprises nationwide on solutions to promote production, business and investment development. 

Also attending the conference were Deputy Prime Ministers, leaders of ministries, branches, government agencies, leaders of the Central Economic Committee, the Economic Committee, the Finance and Budget Committee of the National Assembly, the State Audit, the Party Committee of the Central Enterprises Bloc; leaders of corporations, general companies, and state-owned commercial banks.

Attending the conference online at 63 local points were Chairmen of People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities, and local state-owned enterprises.

After listening to the opinions of enterprises and corporations at the Conference of the Government Standing Committee working with State-owned enterprises (SOEs) nationwide on solutions to promote production, business and investment development, on the morning of September 14, representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the State Bank of Vietnam and the Ministry of Finance directly answered the issues raised by enterprises. At the same time, the ministries and branches agreed on the need to urgently build institutions and policies to create a legal corridor for SOEs as well as other enterprises to recover and develop soon.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan affirmed that the Ministry of Industry and Trade is always open, ready to dialogue and provide maximum support to businesses - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Open doors, maximum support for businesses

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan said that recently, the industry and trade sector has continuously met with relevant ministries and sectors and held many meetings to directly resolve difficulties for state-owned enterprises in production and business, market search or domestic market development... At the same time, the Ministry also organized many thematic conferences to propose solutions to ensure essential goods, ensure energy security, and ensure input for industries.

Regarding the opinion of the Chairman and General Director of Viettel about the desire for ministries and branches to regularly listen to the difficulties of enterprises, especially those related to regulations and policies, to promptly detect and remove inadequacies, Deputy Minister Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan affirmed: The Ministry of Industry and Trade is always open and ready to listen, discuss and respond to proposals of enterprises. Not only discussing, the Ministry also urgently issued practical instructions such as ensuring the supply of gasoline and electricity for the economy in a period of many fluctuations like the recent past.

Regarding the proposal of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) to amend the Decree regulating foreign investment in oil and gas activities to replace Decree No. 124/2017/ND-CP dated November 15, 2017 of the Government, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that it has recorded and summarized the opinions of enterprises and is seeking opinions from the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Vietnam. "This is a very important content that the Ministry of Industry and Trade has detailed and is expected to submit to the Government this September," the Deputy Minister informed.

Regarding the opinions of energy corporations (EVN, PVN, TKV), the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade said that the mechanism for implementing energy projects with a mechanism for ensuring the supply of materials and raw materials and ensuring output for products requires the cooperation of corporations and general companies to support each other in good faith to carry out the biggest task of ensuring national energy security and providing energy for the entire economy.

Regarding the implementation of the Semiconductor Industry Development Strategy and the National Strategy for Hydrogen Industry Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade also affirmed its agreement on the spirit of coordination and support for the necessity of implementing these two important strategies.

Regarding the proposal of the Northern Food Corporation, implementing the direction of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is urgently completing the Decree amending Decree 107/2018/ND-CP on rice export. In which, strict, specific and feasible regulations on conditions for rice export business, quality of rice, exported rice goods, traders must cooperate with rice growers in building raw material areas, production, consumption of rice, rice..., creating a public, transparent, fair, favorable business environment and ensuring the legitimate interests of rice farmers, maintaining the reputation of Vietnamese rice products.

“We are recording and synthesizing the opinions of businesses and associations in the most careful way to ensure the rights of Vietnamese businesses, as well as to ensure the preservation of the Vietnamese rice brand in the international market. It is expected that the Ministry of Industry and Trade will submit to the Government a draft amendment to Decree 107 in September,” the Deputy Minister informed.

Finally, Deputy Minister Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan said: The Ministry of Industry and Trade has trade offices in countries that are always ready to provide information to businesses and regularly update warnings from the markets. In addition, the Ministry also holds monthly trade meetings for businesses and trade offices to exchange information and issue new warnings to businesses.

“We also hope that businesses will carefully study trade agreements to take full advantage of the incentives. Currently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is continuing to seek and expand markets for Vietnamese goods, as well as making efforts to negotiate new generation trade agreements. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is always open and ready to provide maximum support to businesses,” said the Deputy Minister.

Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said that the State Bank of Vietnam manages exchange rates considering the whole economy, not for the benefit of any business - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Exchange rate management considers the whole economy

Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said that in the context of unpredictable developments in the world's political economy, the State Bank of Vietnam is making efforts to manage and regulate monetary policy solutions to help control inflation and stabilize the macro-economic market. The State Bank of Vietnam is also one of the ministries and branches actively implementing administrative procedure reform. The State Bank of Vietnam has also topped the PAR INDEX 2022 rankings of ministries and ministerial-level agencies for 7 times with an administrative reform index score of 91.77%, contributing to improving the investment and business environment for businesses and people.

As a system providing credit capital, recently, the Government has issued many directives and the State Bank has also held many meetings to remove difficulties for enterprises in credit issues. Governor Nguyen Thi Hong commented: State-owned enterprises are all enterprises with very large capital needs, therefore, the State Bank has also directed banks in the system based on their capital balance capacity to coordinate with other banks to be able to co-finance. 

In case the capital is too large to be co-financed, the State Bank will also instruct banks to report to the competent authority for credit granting. For example, Vietcombank recently reported on the submission and granting of credit for the Quang Trach 1 Thermal Power Plant project of Vietnam Electricity Group with a total capital of up to VND 27,000 billion.

Recently, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the general difficult context of the whole world, SOEs have encountered difficulties in terms of money and credit. In this situation, the State Bank of Vietnam issued Circular No. 01/2020/TT-NHNN dated March 13, 2020 regulating credit institutions and foreign bank branches to restructure debt repayment terms, waive and reduce interest and fees, and maintain debt groups to support customers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, applicable in the period 2019-2020. 

And recently, the State Bank of Vietnam continued to issue Circular 02/2023/TT-NHNN dated April 23, 2023, regulating credit institutions and foreign bank branches to restructure debt repayment terms and maintain debt groups to support customers in difficulty. These circulars aim to help SOEs extend debt as well as continue to borrow money from credit institutions in the system to restore business. 

Regarding the provision of credit policies for the rural agricultural sector, including rice, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said: This is a sector that the Government has a priority policy. The State Bank has also chaired and submitted to the Government a decree to provide incentives for rural agricultural enterprises in terms of interest rates, collateral, repayment terms, etc. Up to now, the outstanding rural agricultural debt of the entire system is 3 million billion VND out of the total scale of 12 million billion VND of the entire system. This figure shows that the rural agricultural sector is of great interest to the Government.

Regarding the credit limit as proposed by the Vietnam Textile and Garment Group, the Governor of the State Bank explained: In fact, the credit limit for businesses to borrow capital is entirely decided by credit institutions based on the assessment of the reputation and creditworthiness of customers, while the State Bank only plays the role of managing credit growth throughout the system. This year, the State Bank has allocated the entire credit growth target of 14% to credit institutions according to the Prime Minister's direction.

Regarding the exchange rate issue, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong admitted that when exporting goods to countries with high devaluation, they benefit more in terms of price. However, for the State Bank, when managing the exchange rate, it must stand on the perspective of the whole country, including both exporting and importing enterprises. 

“In 2022, Vietnam will have a trade surplus of more than 12 billion USD, but FDI enterprises will have a trade surplus of up to 36 billion USD. Domestic enterprises are in deficit because our production costs depend heavily on importing foreign machinery and raw materials. If the exchange rate increases, it will be very difficult for enterprises importing raw materials. Not to mention, when the exchange rate increases, foreign-invested enterprises will not feel secure because when operating here, they are profitable, but when they transfer back to the country, they find that they are not profitable. Therefore, we would like to reiterate that the issue of stabilizing the exchange rate must be considered in the context of the entire economy, not for any individual enterprise,” Governor Nguyen Thi Hong affirmed.

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc said that the Ministry of Finance is urgently focusing on amending Law No. 69/2014/QH13 in the direction of promoting decentralization and delegation of power to create initiative for businesses.

If businesses have any problems, please contact the Ministry of Finance directly.

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc acknowledged: The situation of enterprises has been difficult for the past 8 months. Production and business activities of state-owned enterprises have basically stabilized, however, about 30% of enterprises are still operating at a loss. Therefore, what needs to be done right now is to focus on removing difficulties for enterprises. 

First, what businesses need now is to expand their domestic and foreign markets. Second, it is to remove difficulties in capital for businesses, mainly mobilizing from credit. Therefore, we need to remove from the institution, remove each obstacle to create motivation to promote businesses.

Regarding the law amendment, Minister Ho Duc Phoc said that the Ministry of Finance is urgently focusing on amending Law No. 69/2014/QH13 in the direction of promoting decentralization and delegation of power to create initiative for enterprises; the representative body of the owner only decides on major, important issues of orientation and focuses on inspection and supervision. The Board of Members, the representative of the State capital in the enterprise is the one who proactively decides on the production and business activities of the enterprise. At the same time, research and complete regulations to improve the effectiveness of the warning and monitoring system to promptly detect and provide appropriate recommendations and solutions.

The Ministry of Finance is seeking opinions from state-owned enterprises as well as relevant ministries and branches. The agency also expressed its hope that businesses and corporations with any problems should discuss with the Ministry of Finance to resolve them. Because if we do not focus on amending the Law, there will be problems when implementing it, and it will not be able to create development momentum for state-owned enterprises but will be an obstacle.

Source:  Government Electronic Newspaper