On the morning of May 9th, in Hanoi, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) held a press conference to announce the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) for 2023 and the Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PGI) for 2023.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Trung, Provincial Party’s Committee Secretary and the delegation visiting An Thai Investment and Development JSC

According to the VCCI report, the province ranked first in the PCI 2023 rankings is Quang Ninh with 71.25 points. Dak Lak specifically ranked 51st out of 63 provinces and cities, rising 9 places compared to 2022, with a score of 64.46 points (an increase of 3.55 points compared to 2022).

Specifically, in the 10 criteria of PCI 2023, Dak Lak had 8/10 criteria with increased scores: Market entry; Land access; Transparency; Time costs; Unofficial costs; Equal competition; Enterprise support policies; Labor training. There were 2/10 criteria with decreased scores: Legal framework and security; Provincial government's dynamism and leadership.

Regarding the Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PGI) in 2023, Dak Lak increased by 6.59 points compared to 2022.

For the Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PGI) in 2023, Dak Lak achieved 20.83 points (on a 40-point scale), an increase of 6.59 points compared to 2022. In the 4 component indices, the PGI for 2023 in Dak Lak had 3/4 indices increased compared to the previous year: Pollution and disaster reduction; Compliance assurance; Encouragement policies and support services. There was 1 index that decreased: Promoting green practices.

It is known that the PCI 2023 report is based on the results of surveys of over 10,000 businesses nationwide. This is a vivid picture of Vietnam's business environment in the past year from the perspective of domestic and foreign investors, the reforms highly appreciated by businesses, and the difficulties that businesses are facing. According to the PCI survey in 2023, the proportion of businesses stating that they had to pay unofficial costs was 33.3%, significantly lower than the 42.6% rate in 2022. VCCI believes that this partly demonstrates the effectiveness of the Party's anti-corruption and anti-negativity efforts.

The worrying issues of the business environment in 2023 according to VCCI are the dynamism and leadership of provincial governments stagnating. The proportion of businesses stating that the provincial People's Committees were flexible within the legal framework to facilitate business decreased from 86% (in 2022) to 82.1% (in 2023). 51.5% of businesses stated that departments and agencies did not correctly implement the province's policies and directives.

In land access, obstacles are increasing, requiring more determined reform efforts in the future. The proportion of businesses having to wait longer than prescribed to resolve land administrative procedures was 64%, businesses encountered officers receiving incomplete and unclear documents 46%, and encountered procedures not in accordance with the advertised content and regulatory documents 46%.

In particular, 73% of businesses stated that they had to postpone or cancel their business plans for 2023 due to difficulties in implementing land administrative procedures, an increase of 30.1% compared to 2022.

According to PCI, a locality is considered to have good management quality when it has: Low market entry costs; Easy land access and stable land use; Transparent business environment and public business information; Low unofficial costs; Quick inspection, examination, and implementation of regulations and administrative procedures; Fair competition environment; Provincial government's dynamism and creativity in solving problems for businesses; Support policies for enterprises to implement and meet business needs; Good labor training quality; Fair, effective dispute resolution procedures, and maintenance of security and order.

This is the 19th consecutive year that VCCI has announced the set of evaluation and ranking indices for the quality of economic management, the level of convenience, friendliness of the business environment, and the administrative reform efforts of provincial and municipal governments in Vietnam, thereby promoting the development of private economic regions. And the second consecutive year to announce the Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index set.

Like last year, the PCI in 2023 did not announce the ranking of the bottom half of the ranking table. The goal is explained as to encourage localities to focus their efforts on entering the leading group of PCI annually.