The PCI 2021 report is based on feedback from 11,312 businesses including 10,127 private enterprises operating in 63 provinces/cities and 1,185 foreign-invested enterprises operating in 22 provinces/cities.

According to the report, Quang Ninh leads PCI 2021 with a score of 73.02. This is the 5th year in a row that Quang Ninh ranks first in the Provincial Competitiveness Index.

“In 2021, Quang Ninh has reduced the time to handle administrative procedures by 40-50% compared to the regulations. The province's number of level 4 online public services is 1,387, equivalent to 75% of the province's online public services. This rate is significantly higher than the national average of 48%,” said the VCCI report.

In addition, Quang Ninh also ranked first in the country in two sub-indexes: market entry costs (7.98 points) and time costs (8.52 points).

The runners up in the PCI rankings include Hai Phong (70.61 points); Dong Thap (70.53 points); Da Nang (70.42 points); Vinh Phuc (69.69 points); Binh Duong (69.61 points); Bac Ninh (69.45 points); Thua Thien Hue (69.24 points); Ba Ria - Vung Tau (69.03 points); Hanoi (68.6 points).

The survey shows that in 2021, government proactivity has the best results ever. Specifically, 85.6% of businesses found that local governments apply the law flexibly to create a favorable business environment; 62% of businesses said that the provincial governments have a positive attitude toward production and business activities in the private sector.

According to the PCI report, some areas of administrative procedures are assessed to be more troublesome than in 2020. 29% of businesses said that they complained about tax and fee procedures; 28.9% complained about land procedures.