Vietnam PCI 2012 Announced

The Mekong Delta provinces of Dong Thap and An Giang are the first localities in the ranking list of Vietnam’s annual Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) in 2012, followed by the northern province of Lao Cai.

 

The information was announced at the PCI 2012 launching ceremony held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on March 14 in Hanoi.

 

According to Dau Anh Tuan, Acting Director of Legal Department, VCCI, the 2012 PCI has seen many changes, particularly the relegation of the previous year’s highest PCI localities. The 2011 PCI top-three provinces of Lao Cai, Bac Ninh and Long An have fallen to the third, tenth and sixteenth places respectively. This could be due to poor performance by local businesses, the local leadership change, and economic difficulties in general, Tuan said.

 

The PCI 2012 does not include any localities in the ‘very good’ ranking. The number of provinces in the ‘quite low’ ranking increased from one in 2011 to three in 2012, including the northern mountainous provinces of Cao Bang, Tuyen Quang and Dien Bien.

 

Ho Chi Minh City ranks the 13th in the 2012 list while the capital, Hanoi, falls to 51st place from 36th in 2011.

 

The PCI is the most comprehensive annual survey of local businesses in Vietnam and measures the provincial business environment in the country which has been implemented for eight years by VCCI and USAID’s Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative. It has become an important reference for many international organisations and foreign investors to make investment decisions and support they provide to localities, said Dr Vu Tien Loc, VCCI President.

 

The PCI 2012 surveyed over 8,000 domestic businesses and nearly 2,000 foreign firms investing in Vietnam across all 63 cities and provinces.