Industrial promotion capital must create spillover effect instead of chasing after disbursement
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the period 2021-2025, the total budget for industrial promotion nationwide reached 1,436 billion VND, of which national industrial promotion accounted for 36.6%. Counterpart capital of enterprises and rural industrial establishments reached nearly 1,525 billion VND, equivalent to 1 VND of the budget attracting about 1.06 VND of investment capital.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Dr. Huynh Thanh Dien - economic expert, lecturer at Nguyen Tat Thanh University, assessed that this number is still quite modest, and can be done even better.
The goal of industrial promotion policies must be to make sure that one dong of State capital can attract more capital from businesses and society. For example, if the State spends one dong, businesses can invest at least 3-4 dong, even 5-6 dong more. Then, the efficiency of using public resources will be higher and create greater spillover effect" - Dr. Huynh Thanh Dien shared.
With a 10 billion VND project, the State does not need to directly support a large amount but should focus on key items such as research and technology development or partial loan interest support. At that time, industrial promotion capital will become "bait capital", helping businesses mobilize more resources and create a better spillover effect.
Analyzing the bottlenecks in current industrial promotion activities, Dr. Huynh Thanh Dien said that, firstly, localities have not built a set of support criteria that are truly suitable for reality.
Second, the proactiveness of some localities is still limited. When assigning tasks to the Department of Industry and Trade, it must be accompanied by specific programs and projects and clearly assign people responsible for implementation. It is not possible to just issue notices and wait for businesses to come.
Third, it lies in the support method itself. Support in the coming period must be linked to specific projects, such as projects to help businesses participate in the domestic supply ecosystem, green transformation, digital transformation or high-tech application.
It is not that just spending a lot of money and supporting many businesses is successful. If many programs are organized, businesses participate, receive support, but then the project is ineffective, the business has to stop operating, or even go bankrupt, then it cannot be considered a successful policy. Support may be small, but each selected project must create a spillover effect. Measuring effectiveness cannot only be based on the amount of money disbursed or the number of businesses supported, but must be measured by the spillover effect of that resource.
Switching from widespread support to choosing the right businesses, the right projects
In the coming time, according to Dr. Huynh Thanh Dien, first of all, industrial promotion policies need to focus on supporting businesses with production projects to replace imported goods. Each locality must base on the business capacity, industry advantages and actual needs to clearly identify groups of industries, products and projects that need to be prioritized.
Second, support businesses to implement digital transformation, green transformation, especially businesses with export orientations. Because if they do not transform and do not meet new standards, businesses will find it very difficult to participate in the international market.
After determining the target group, it is necessary to quantify them into specific targets. For example, how many digital transformation projects, how many green transformation projects, how many projects participating in the global supply chain and how many projects producing products to replace imported goods are supported in one year. From that goal, the budget, level of support and implementation solutions are determined. When you know who you need to support, you must proactively find the right targets, organize training, help businesses form ideas, build projects and access industrial promotion capital.
More importantly, in this process, there must be a team of experts and consultants accompanying businesses from the time the idea is formed, the project is developed to the implementation process. The State should not only support money and then end, but must have someone to accompany and lead the business.
Digital transformation businesses need to be consulted from the beginning to determine a suitable roadmap. The State can support consulting costs, and then continue to support necessary items such as machinery, equipment and technology.
