Over 40 percent of small companies in Vietnam pay bribes: survey

• Philippines firm under suspicion of bribery in Vietnam lead poisoning case

Unofficial payments unfortunately continued to be the way of doing business for many small companies in Vietnam as a new survey found a large number resorted to bribery last year.

The survey, released by the Central Institute of Economic Management on Wednesday, showed that 42.7 percent of small and medium firms had to make unofficial payment to government agencies to keep their business going, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

The institute conducted the survey with the Institute of Labor Science and Social Affairs, the University of Copenhagen and the United Nations University’s World Institute for Development Economics Research.

More than 2,600 businesses from 10 cities and provinces, including the northern port city of Hai Phong, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, took part in the survey.

The companies said they paid back-door money to win access to public services and to complete tax and customs procedures faster.

The rate of businesses slipping in extra money to solve tax issues increased from 17.6 percent in 2013 to 24.1 percent in 2015.

Among companies paying bribes, 41.2 percent said the amount of unofficial payments could increase in the coming time.

Small and medium-sized companies account for 97 percent of all businesses in Vietnam.

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