On the morning of July 10, the 31st session of the 18th term of the Nghe An Provincial People's Council conducted a question-and-answer session in the hall. Delegate Ha Thi Phuong Thao questioned whether the assessment and survey of the PCI (provincial competitiveness index) in the past 3 years (2021 - 2024) reflects reality or not.
Responding to the delegate's question, Director of Nghe An Provincial Department of Finance Trinh Thanh Hai said that to see whether Nghe An's PCI assessment and rating results over the past three years are close to reality or not, it is necessary to look back at the survey results.
Accordingly, in 2024, VCCI sent 1,800 survey forms to enterprises in Nghe An province but only collected 173 forms, accounting for 9.6% - approximately 1% of the total number of enterprises in the province.
According to the Director of the Nghe An Provincial Department of Finance, the province highly appreciates the PCI results, considering this a positive reference channel for the province to look back at itself, assess where it is standing to overcome and progress more.
However, it is necessary to frankly admit that issuing 1,800 ballots and collecting 173 ballots, at a rate of less than 10%, is completely unusual.
The Director of Nghe An Provincial Department of Finance said that some years ago, the results were similar.
From the above results, Mr. Trinh Thanh Hai is very concerned, raising the question of whether the majority of Nghe An enterprises are still not interested in the reforms and management policies of the government.
From the above content, the Director of Nghe An Provincial Department of Finance proposed a number of solutions on the issue of improving the provincial competitiveness index, better serving the business community.
First, coordinate to support the survey process on the principle of respect for independence. VCCI is an independent unit conducting the survey, but it is also necessary to listen to the government's comments on the time and subjects of the survey to closely monitor the reality.
Second, improve service quality at the grassroots level - where businesses have the most contact with the government. Although few businesses responded, their feedback was still very valuable. If the government serves well, businesses will take note.
Third, the government must respond responsibly to the survey results, organize dialogues with the business community and associations to jointly analyze component indexes, clearly identify responsibilities at each level and each agency.
Also at the question-and-answer session this morning, the Director of the Nghe An Provincial Department of Finance provided information that in the first 6 months of 2025, the whole Nghe An province had 1,070 newly registered enterprises, down 10.2% compared to the previous year. During the same period, 1,635 enterprises withdrew from the market, up 11.8%. The number of enterprises returning to operation also reached only 317 units, down 6.5% over the same period in 2024.
The head of the Finance - Investment Planning sector of Nghe An province also affirmed that the province's operating policy is consistent, without discrimination between large and small enterprises, even small and medium enterprises are supported more.
In 2024, Nghe An will reach 66.48 PCI points, a slight increase of 0.76 points compared to 2023. However, the province still maintains its 44th position out of 63 on the national rankings.
Although it has maintained its 3rd position in the North Central region, behind Thua Thien Hue (now Hue city) and Thanh Hoa, the gap between Nghe An and the leading provinces is quite large. Compared to Hai Phong, the leading locality in the country, Nghe An is 8.36 points behind; compared to Ba Ria - Vung Tau (top 5), Nghe An is 4.69 points behind.
