Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the supporting industryneed better support policies to enhance competitiveness and participatein the global value chain, experts stated.

They added that the profit margins of SMEs remain modest.

Statisticsshowed that the average profitability ratio of SMEs in Ho Chi Minh Cityis just 1.8 percent in comparison with the figure of 6.9 percent in theindustry sector; reflecting that SMEs are struggling and theGovernment's support policies are not working as expected.

Accordingto Huynh Van Minh, chairman of the HCM City Business Association, SMEsare encountering complicated administrative procedures and havedifficulty accessing credit.

He said that although the city haspolicies for providing capital support to SMEs, they remain worriedabout the fluctuations in interest rates, urging for more appropriateand stable interest rates to encourage investments.

Last year's figures from the Vietnam Association of SMEs showed that only 32 percent of SMEs nationwide have access to credit.

Inaddition, there is a shortage of information for SMEs involved in theintegration process, which confuses companies and keeps them fromgrasping any opportunity.

Hang Vay Chi, Chairman of Viet HuongJoint Stock Company, said a support fund should be set up to providepreferential loans to SMEs.

Besides difficult capital access,SMEs in the support industry have also failed to keep pace withtechnological advances and their poor competitiveness will fail them inthe race with foreign countries, according to Huynh Thanh Dien from HCMCity Economics University.

Experts also demanded that support policies on land and infrastructure should be formulated.

Thereare around 500,000 SMEs in Vietnam, making up for more than 90 percentof the total number of companies throughout the country.-VNA