HCM City (VNA) - Thesocial insurance sector has made significant improvement in administrativeprocedures reform after four years implementing the Government Resolution 19/NQ-CP on improving the business environment, delegates told a seminar in Ho ChiMinh City on September 28.

Dao Viet Anh, Deputy General Directorof the Vietnam Social Security (VSS), said the administrative procedures werereduced by 75 percent from 114 in 2013 to 28 now.

That was thanks to the application ofinformation technology as well as electronic transactions for bothorganisations and individuals in all areas involved in the sector, he said.

At present, the sector’s IT system hasconnected with over 12,000 medical facilities and performs electronicsurveillance.

Nguyen Minh Thao from the Central Institute forEconomic Management said since the implementation of Resolution 19, Vietnam’sbusiness environment is constantly improving.

The World Economic Forum’s latestglobal competitiveness list, released on September 27, ranked Vietnam 55thoverall, up five places from last year, she said.

The administrative reform, simplifyingprocedures and accelerating the application of electronic transactions havesignificantly helped businesses to reduce time and costs, she said.

Last year time needed for paying socialinsurance reduced by 89 hours to 189 hours a year.

The resolution 19 orders the reductionof time required for payment of social insurance to 49 hours a year, so moreneeded to be done to accomplish the target, delegates said.

Delegates at the workshop alsosuggested the Government to adjust the social insurance premium as it was toohigh compared to other countries, making its business environment lesscompetitiveness.

The current social insurance premiumsin Vietnam are the highest in ASEAN with 32.5 percent of the monthly salary, inwhich enterprises pay 22 percent and employees contribute 10.5 percent.

Meanwhile, in ASEAN, the socialinsurance premiums of Malaysia account for only 13 percent of salary, thesocial insurance premiums of the Philippines account for 10 percent of salary,Indonesia and Thailand with 8 percent and 5 percent respectively.

From 2018, workers and employees willhave to pay social insurance based on total incomes, so the payment willincrease.

The increase of social insurancepremiums will increase the burden on businesses, increasing costs and affectingtheir competiveness, said Nguyen Thi Cuc, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Tax Consultants Association.

This will affect attracting foreigninvestors into the country, she said.

Thus she as well as many delegates atthe event suggested the Government to reconsider the insurance premium rates.

At the event, officials from the VSS aswell as social security officials from many provinces and cities untied issuesfaced by enterprises during the process of completing or paying socialinsurance online, among other issues.

Vu Quoc Tuan, deputy chief of the VSS’ssecretariat, said 11.4 million people had compulsory social insurance by theend of September. The number of people with voluntary social insurance in thecountry totalled 243,000, Tuan said.

More than 79 million people in thecountry have health insurance, accounting for 84.9 percent of the totalpopulation, he added.-VNA