Hanoi (VNA) – The northeastern province of Quang Ninh has topped the 2023 Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) drawn up by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) for a seventh time in a row, the chamber announced on May 9.

According to the latest ranking based on responses from 9,100 private Vietnamese firms and 1,500 FDI enterprises, Quang Ninh scored 71.25 points thanks to its incentives to attract investment and improve administrative procedures.

With enterprises praising its efforts to cut non-official costs and improve administrative procedures, the Mekong Delta province of Long An came second with 70.94 points.

The rest of the top five were the northern port city of Hai Phong (70.34 points), the northern province of Bac Giang (69.75 points), and the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap (69.66 points).

The 2023 report on PCI and Provincial Green Index (PGI) revealed that the business community commended the efforts of local authorities to better their business climate, with the nation’s average CPI being 66.66 points, or 1.44 points higher than the figure in 2022, said VCCI President Pham Tan Cong.

FDI firms said they are on stable post-pandemic recovery thanks to the considerable ease of the burden of legal compliance as well as tax and social security-related procedures, he added.

However, several firms reported they faced challenges during operation, including land and capital access, market expansion, and negative impacts of natural disasters and climate change.

The Government issued a resolution on key tasks and solutions to improve the business environment and national competitive capacity in 2024, he said, adding it serves as a fulcrum to improve enterprise resilience, helping consolidate their confidence.

The PCI & PGI Report is a collaborative research product, conducted annually by VCCI with assistance from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and private sector partners, to promote an enabling and environmentally friendly business climate in Vietnam.

♍ The PCI is designed to assess the ease of doing business, the quality of economic governance, and the effectiveness of administrative reform efforts in the 63 provinces and cities in the country. Like its cousin, the PGI aggregates the perception of businesses into a common voice to communicate their views on environmental policy to national and local decision-makers./.