The Vietnam Institute for Development Strategies, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and Konrad-Adenaeur-Stiftung Vietnam (KAS) on August 31 held a workshop on the assessment of the top 500 Vietnamese private enterprises (VPE500) in the 2021-2022 period when Vietnam’s economy was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the end of 2021, Vietnam had 694,200 private enterprises, accounting for 96.6% of the total operating ones, and employing 58.1% of the total workers. The private enterprises’ assess and net revenue made up 59.3% and 57.8% of all enterprises in Vietnam, respectively.

At that time, only 0.22% of private enterprises in Vietnam had a size of 500 workhands and more while the rates in foreign-invested enterprises ad State-owned enterprises were 8.29% and 19.52%, respectively.

According to the assessment, the VPE500 group operates outstandingly and still maintains a good growth rate compared to domestic private enterprises in general.

During 2019-2021, the average size and total assets of the VPE500 member enterprises were 160 and 376 times higher respectively than those of other private companies in general.

The VPE500 accounts for a small proportion of the number of businesses but makes a large contribution to the operation of the domestic private enterprises. 

Between 2019 and 2021, on average, VPE500 accounted for only 0.075% of the total number of domestic private enterprises but created 12% of total jobs in the domestic private sector.

VPE500’s assets accounted for 28% of total and generated 18.4% of the gross revenue of domestic private enterprises. Its contribution to the state budget accounted for 18.4% of the total by all domestic private enterprises.

Dr Nguyen Toan Thang, head of VIDS’s International Relations Department and member of the VPE500-2023 research team, said that although present in 53 out of the 63 provinces and cities across the country, about 75% of the VPE500 are in the Red River Delta and the southeast. 

In general, the VPE500 is formed based on the infrastructure, resources, and market advantages of localities. A majority of the VPE500 are operating in the manufacturing, processing, trade, and construction industries.

Enterprises operating in real estate, construction, commerce, garment, and food processing which were heavily hit by COVID-19 are no longer listed in this year’s VPE500.

Meanwhile, businesses in the banking and insurance sectors still maintain their positions in the rankings. They are at high rankings and see few changes in rank.

Thang said that policies for businesses in the coming time should not only facilitate businesses in entering the market but also support them to survive and grow. In particular, large enterprises should be encouraged to make more investment to improve productivity and gradually shift to in-depth growth.

The Government should have policies to promote business linkages, encouraging large enterprises, State-owned enterprises, and foreign-invested ones to form joint ventures and link with domestic small- and medium-sized enterprises. 

Each locality should develop its leading private enterprises based on local advantages./.VNA