HCMC – Incentives have been proposed for transportation companies, most of which have yet to recover from the protracted impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Vietnam Automobile Transportation Association has written to the prime minister proposing measures to ease the difficulties faced by transport businesses.
The association said auto transport is one of the industries hit hardest by the pandemic, causing a plunge in revenues of companies in this field.
They could now see the light at the end of the tunnel as the demand for travel and goods transport has regained its strength, said Nguyen Van Quyen, chairman of the association.
However, global geopolitical tensions have made oil prices volatile, coupled with a rise in the operation of unregistered passenger coaches at unregistered bus stations, placing a further strain on transport companies and hindering their recovery, he added.
Given back-to-back woes, the association proposed the State Bank of Vietnam devise a policy enabling the restructuring of loans and the extension of payback periods for cash-strapped firms affected by Covid-19 without downgrading debt.
The central bank was also asked to urge commercial banks to offer new loans to debt-ridden businesses for reinvestment and business expansion purposes, even if they have yet to settle their existing debt.
It suggested that the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Taxation defer taxes in 2023, keep the value-added tax at 8% and reduce the registration tax by 2% for transport companies.
Besides, it proposed the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Vietnam Social Security extend social insurance debt of transport firms until June 30, 2023, without extra charges for delays.
In addition, the association asked Vietnam Social Security to write off the late payment interest from March 2020 to December 31, 2022, for transportation companies.
