Vietnam’s business confidence index (BCI), in the second quarter this year, climbed to 130 points, up 31 points compared to the first quarter, signaling national economic recovery and positive growth, a recent survey indicated.
The survey, conducted jointly by the Vietnam World Vest Base Financial Intelligence Services (WVB FISL), the PetroVietnam Finance Investment and Consultancy Company (PVFC Invest) interviewed 192 companies in 11 key industries from June 11 through the first week of July.
The survey showed that up to 81 per cent of interviewees expect to post higher business results over the next 12 months, while 72 per cent hope their profits will increase.
Fifty three percent of the interviewees said that the overall economic conditions had improved compared to 12 months ago, and 75 per cent believe that overall economic conditions will be better over the next 12 months.
As many as 59 per cent of businesses questioned said that they would hire more workers in the next 12 months.
All respondents also expressed their belief in the government’s key measures to boost consumer demand, including reduction of consumer and corporate loan interest rates and the wide dissemination of information about consumer-demand stimulus policies.
However, 51 per cent of the firms asked suggested that interest rates on consumer loans from banks should be between 5 and 8 per cent to help stimulate domestic consumer demand.
Some 48 per cent of the interviewees were concerned about the depreciation of the Vietnamese dong against the US dollar and forecast that the exchange rate between the two currencies would be more than VND18,000 per US dollar by late this year.
According to the survey, 42 per cent of the companies interviewed forecast an inflation rate of 5 per cent to 10 per cent. Thirty percent rated it between 10 per cent and 15 per cent, but only 9 per cent of those questioned put it under 5 per cent, while 6 per cent said it would be between 15 to 20 per cent. (Investment, VietnamNet)
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