Nguyen Dinh Cung, a member of the Prime Ministerial Economic Advisory Board, commented that the epidemic affects all business fields of the economy.

The epidemic has had a big impact not only on state-owned enterprises, but private enterprises as well. It doesn’t discriminate among countries, nations and economic sectors.

Except for business fields which are believed to bear milder impact from Covid-19 such as healthcare and information technology, all other fields are bearing direct influences, especially service and air transport.

In early April, seven state-owned economic groups and general corporations reported losses of over VND3.7 trillion. Of these, Vietnam Airlines reported the biggest loss of VND2 trillion. The national flag air carrier asked for financial support package of VND12 trillion from the state.

State-owned economic groups, complaining about the losses caused by Covid-19, have asked for financial support at a time when the government is preoccupied with fighting the pandemic.

Six other large economic groups in the fields of oil and gas, petroleum distribution, chemicals production, airport management, maritime, railway, food and coffee all foresee big losses.

Regarding air transportation, besides the state-owned Vietnam Airlines, other carriers including Vietjet Air and Bamboo Airways have also been affected seriously. Vietnam Airlines bears the biggest impact because it only provides air transportation services, while the other two operate in more than one business field.

However, Cung said he hopes economic groups will not complain and ask for the state’s help.

“The state now has to gather strength on the fighting against the epidemic and it would be unreasonable for it to think of supporting state-owned economic groups,” Cung complained.

According to the economist, the epidemic has caused difficulties but has also brought opportunities to develop. Instead of asking for money, the economic groups should ask for reasonable policies to help them become more flexible in coping with difficulties.

Meanwhile, private enterprises are mostly small ones which have high flexibility but low endurance, without large financial reserves. When the epidemic broke out, they ran out of money and didn’t have income.

Vietnamese workers mostly work for small and medium enterprises. I’s the economic sector which receives more sympathy from the respected economist.

Asked about policies to support enterprises, Cung said necessary policies have been set up, but he still considers the size of the economic relief packages.

“I think the tax payment should be delayed for longer than several months. As for trade union fee, it would be better to exempt the fee instead of fee payment delay,” he said. 

Thanh Lich

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