HCMCity (VNS/VNA) - The Government needs to have more practical andquicker support policies to help businesses, especially small ones, recoverfrom the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, business executives have said.

The General Statistics Office said in the first five months of the year, 26,000firms temporarily ceased operations, well more than a third up from thesame period last year.

Nearly 6,100 businesses closed down, down 5 percent, 2,200 of them inwholesale and retail and automobile and motorbike repair, it added. 

The prolonged pandemic has had a severe impact on the Vietnamese businesscommunity, especially small companies. They need financial support as well aspolicies to recover after the pandemic.

The Government has come out with a number of policies that seek to helpbusinesses resume operations.

Recently, it submitted a tax cut proposal to aid businesses tothe National Assembly for approval.

It seeks to cut the corporate income tax by 30 percent this yearfor firms which have revenues of up to 50 billion VND (2.61 million USD) and100 workers.

But LuNguyen Xuan Vu, CEO of Xuan Nguyen Group Joint Stock Company and a member ofthe executive committee of the HCM City Union of Business Associations, said whilethese policies are practical their enforcement has been tardy.

“We expect these policies to benefit businesses faster because it is essentialfor them to recover [quickly] after the pandemic.”

Regardingto the tax cut proposal, he said an income tax reduction of 30 percentwould not be beneficial since very few businesses would make profits this year.

Many businesses and business groups have urged the Government to reduce thevalue-added tax for at least one year, especially for businesses involved inagriculture.

If the Government cuts value-added tax from 10 percent to 3-5 percent,production costs and prices would go down, and consumers would buy, they said./.