Bussiness need more support policies to deal with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. VNA/VNS Photo

Mạc Quốc Anh, Vice President and Secretary-General of the Hà Nội Small and Medium Enterprises Union, talks to Tin Tức (News) online newspaper on allowing enterprises to delay paying land tax for 2020

What do you think about Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc’s approval of the Ministry of Finance’s proposal to delay the payment of land taxes for all enterprises for 2020?

The Ministry of Finance’s proposal has great significance for business individuals, households and enterprises in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic. This is a good solution to help enterprises have more funding to continue or even expand their business activities.

Recently many commercial banks have decided to cut their lending interest rates to enable enterprises to continue their operation in the context of COVID-19.

Many commercial banks have offered low interest rates to enterprises to help them continue their operations. Do you think such rates are attractive enough?

Interest rates have been reduced but are only offered for working capital loans, while those for mid-term and long-term investment loans are still high. Meanwhile, foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises operating in Việt Nam have enjoyed preferential interest rates from their mother companies. This is a good advantage for FDI enterprises over Vietnamese enterprises.

What should Vietnamese firms do to make the best use of free trade agreements, particularly the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Europe-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA)?

What we need is to have solutions/policies to cut the tariffs which the enterprises have to pay these days. We hope the Government will soon adopt measures to help us solve this problem.

In the context of the pandemic, what should Hà Nội's small and medium-sized enterprises change about their operations?

In the present context, enterprises should quickly change their traditional business operation to a digital operation. This is a very useful and effective way to help them do their business quicker and better in the context of the COVID-19.

To help enterprises, household businesses and individuals overcome challenges they have faced amid COVID-19, the Ministry of Finance has submitted to the Prime Minister a proposal to postpone the land taxes and land leases for the year 2021 to all landowners. The total tax is estimated at some VNĐ115 trillion (US$4.97 billion). VNS