Hải Phòng - Quảng Ninh Expressway. The northern province of Quảng Ninh ranked first in provincial competitiveness among 63 provinces and cities for the four consecutive years. — VNA/VNS Photo Thành Đạt

HÀ NỘI — The northern province of Quảng Ninh has led in provincial competitiveness among all 63 provinces and cities for four consecutive years, according to the ranking announced by the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) yesterday.

Other provinces and cities in the top 10 of the 2020  provincial competitiveness index (PCI) ranking included Đồng Tháp, Long An, Bình Dương, Đà Nẵng, Vĩnh Long, Hải Phòng, Bến Tre, Hà Nội and Bắc Ninh.

With a score of 75.09, 1.69 higher than the previous year, Quảng Ninh maintained its top position for the fourth straight year and became the first locality to top the 75-point mark since 2010.

VCCI Chairman Vũ Tiến Lộc said the northern province had made significant efforts to help enterprises overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.

Second on the list was Đồng Tháp Province with a score of 72.8, 1.1 points higher than a year before, followed by Long An with a score of 70.37, a jump of five spots in the PCI ranking.

Bình Dương made the strongest improvement in 2020 with an increase of 2.78 points in its score and a jump of nine spots against 2019, due to positive responses from enterprises about market entry and support for firms.

The report found provincial competitiveness in Việt Nam was improving year over year with positive movements in reducing informal charges, building constructive local governments, enhancing administrative reforms and promoting a fair and transparent business environment.

The findings showed enterprises saw the fairness of the business climate was improving with the percentage of participant enterprises feeling that the local Government prioritising State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and foreign direct investment (FDI) firms dropped from 37.9 per cent in 2016 to 24.7 per cent in 2020 and 42.3 per cent to 29 per cent, respectively.

Enterprises also positively evaluated the fight against corruption in Việt Nam. The percentage of firms that said that they must pay informal charges fell to 44.9 per cent from 66 per cent in 2016.

However, firms said policy enforcement must be strengthened. More than 73 per cent of enterprises agreed there were good initiatives at the provincial level but they weren't implemented properly at provincial departments and that provincial leaders raised good policies but the policies were not implemented well at district levels.

According to the report, administrative reforms must be hastened, especially in procedures related to land, taxes, social insurance and business conditions.

Transparency must be improved by providing better access to important information, such as planning.

The five biggest difficulties enterprises encountered last year were finding customers, accessing capital, market fluctuations, finding suitable employees and seeking business partners, according to the report.

The report also found that business confidence dropped in 2020, largely due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Only 41 per cent of private firms said they planned to expand business in the next two years, compared to 51 per cent in 2019. For FDI firms, only 41 per cent planned to expand their business, compared to 53 per cent in 2019.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the operation of enterprises on a large scale with more than 87 per cent of firms saying the pandemic affected their operations.

The narrowing of the domestic market and the disruption of supply chains were the biggest difficulties for firms in the pandemic.

Nearly 66 per cent of private firms and 62 per cent of FDI firms reported drops in revenue in 2020 with revenue decreasing by a third on average compared to 2019.

The VCCI said the Governments at the central level and local levels must prioritise helping enterprises and citizens to overcome the impacts of the pandemic in a fair and reasonable way. Việt Nam should consider investing resources in providing training and equipping skills for labourers who lost jobs in the pandemic.

It was also important to push enterprises towards more sustainable and environmentally friendly operations.

The  PCI 2020 report was based on the response of nearly 12,300 enterprises, including more than 10,700 private enterprises operating across 63 provinces and cities, and nearly 1,600 foreign-direct-investment (FDI) firms in 22 localities. — VNS