By Nguyen Quy   November 17, 2020 | 07:58 am GMT+7 vnexpressWomen practice aerobics to beats coming off a smartphone at a Covid-19 quarantine camp in Lao Cai Province, northern Vietnam, February 17, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy.

Vietnam has moved up 12 places to 73rd out of 167 economies in a global prosperity ranking, ahead of several Asian peers.

With an overall score of 58.3 points, Vietnam ranked 13th out of 29 economies in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the Prosperity Index 2020 published Monday by London-based think tank Legatum Institute.

The index ranked countries and territories based on various socio-economic categories including safety and security, governance, investment environment, economic quality, living conditions, health, education and natural environment.

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TĐH: There are many intangible benefits from foreign direct investments (FDI) – employment and jobs for the local population, increased education, increased professional skills, better law enforcement and legal process, better working and living conditions in general for the locality… Not just taxes. Tax is a small part of the benefit package. If we need to lower/exempt taxes to compete, then let’s do that to compete. If the entire gang of Asia or Southeast Asia countries agree not to use taxes to compete, then that is “an agreement not to compete,” in a national scene that would constitute a violation of antitrust (anti-competition) law, harmful to consumers and to the economy. The economic principle should not be different in the international scene. (But of course, we need to compete both in business environment and in financial benefits such as taxation and land lease).

By Dat Nguyen, Quynh Trang   November 16, 2020 | 08:07 am GMT+7 vietnamnetWorkers seen in a foreign-invested air conditioner manufacturing plant in the northern province of Hung Yen in December 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Vien Thong.

Competing for foreign investment with tax incentives will end up hitting governments’ revenues and be a lose-lose situation for all ASEAN members, experts warn.

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REUTERS HANOI, NOVEMBER 15, 2020 12:20 IST UPDATED: NOVEMBER 15, 2020 12:20

The Hindu

Amid questions over Washington’s engagement in Asia, RCEP may cement China’s position more firmly as an economic partner with Southeast Asia, Japan and Korea, putting the world’s second-biggest economy in a better position to shape the region’s trade rules

Fifteen Asia-Pacific economies formed the world’s largest free trade bloc on Sunday, a China-backed deal that excludes the United States, which had left a rival Asia-Pacific grouping under President Donald Trump.

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