The Government should cut down 50 percent of the existing regulations and re-consider its role: control or promote development? This is the content of the recent talks between VietNamNet and experts.

 

Vietnam is facing challenges in maintaining its high growth rate, including high inflation, increasing trade and fiscal deficits, and declining productivity and efficiency--especially in government’s spending. These have caused delay in structural transformation and affected the country’s competitiveness. According to the 2011 Global Competitiveness Index, compiled by the World Economic Forum--Vietnam dropped by 6 grades, from 59th to 65th.

  

Scott H. Jacobs, high-ranking advisor of the US Agency for International Development-funded Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative project

Vietnam has implemented economic reforms by adopting liberalization, structure transformation (equitizing selected state-owned enterprises) and global economic integration through signing trade agreements. Economic achievements have been gained as a result.

 

However, the effects of such reform measures have been diminished significantly due to risks and inflexibility of the regulatory system. The Social-Economic Development Strategy for 2011-2020 approved by the 11th National Party Congress also admitted the low quality of policies and regulations and ineffective implementation.

 

Many anti-growth policies are still in use and such policies are still created in many fields, such as costly and ineffective administrative control measures. The economy still has to bear the burdens caused by market integration barriers, rigid regulations and administrative procedures.

 

Vietnam needs a new wave of reform to further liberate productive forces overruled by inappropriate policies and regulations and to improve productivity, efficiency by allowing the market to function better, reallocating resources more quickly and hastening the structural transformation process.

 

The government needs to establish more free and equitable market mechanism and rules, and intervenes in the market only when really necessary to protect social and community interests, such as environment protection, safety or protection of consumers.

 

The recent public arguments among relevant authorities on the management of petrol price have raised an important question about the role of and the relationship between the State and the market. In such case, state agencies should decide whether the Government should take control of petrol price or not, and if yes, for what purposes of management, and what measures should be used to maximize benefits to the country.

 

VietNamNet has organized talks titled “Changing policies to enhance economic vitality,” with the participation of three experts: Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung, Vice Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, Scott H. Jacobs, high-ranking advisor of the US Agency for International Development-funded Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative project and Nick Malyshev from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

 

Nick Malyshev is an expert in policy improvement and development of OECD, which was invited by the Vietnamese Government to review the Master Plan for Administrative Procedures Simplification in state management.

 

With intensive knowledge of Vietnam, Scott H. Jacobs has made considerable contributions by sharing and applying international experience in policy quality improvement to the actual implementation of the Master Plan for Administrative Procedure Simplification (Project 30).

 

Vietnamnet