Vietnam firms more hopeful of recovery: survey

CA - Vietnamese businesses are more confident of a recovery than their counterparts in many other countries, a survey by a Belgium-based provider of workspace solutions has found.

The second edition of the bi-annual Regus BusinessTracker international economic indicator survey, conducted by Regus Group in over 75 countries, canvassed over 15,000 respondents about the financial performance of their companies and their expectations for growth.

In Vietnam, 44.4 percent of companies are positive about net growth this year and expect economic recovery to achieve full momentum in the first half. The global average is 40 percent.

Around 44 percent believe their revenues will grow this year, while the international rate is 42 percent.

More than 94 percent are confident of improvement in their business performance as well as the whole economy compared to 70 percent globally.

The resilience of the private sector appears to have been the major driving force, but the government’s stimulus program also played a role, as the combination of monetary policy easing and a sizable fiscal package has boosted domestic demand, underpinning a recovery in industrial production and maintaining robust retail sales, the report said.

The key findings of this worldwide survey emphasize that the business community needs to retain an element of caution in their optimism.

The study revealed net growth globally, with 12 percent more firms reporting a rise in revenues rather than a decline, and 8 percent more companies experiencing an increase in profits rather than a reduction.

Some 42 percent of global businesses experienced a rise in revenues in the past year, and 70 percent expect their revenues to continue rising this year.

This bullishness is reflected in the expectation that economic recovery will achieve full momentum either in the first or second half this year.

When asked about the measures they believed would be most effective in aiding the recovery, 64 percent of companies globally advocated additional tax breaks for businesses and 58 percent said interest rates should remain low for another 12 months.

Mark Dixon, chief executive of Regus, said: “Despite the slippage between expectations and real experience of business growth observed in this latest survey, it is important to emphasize that the experience of growth is overall still positive around the globe, with Vietnam shaking off the effects of the downturn with particular rapidity and only Spain showing a net revenue decline.

“An important caveat remains, however. Commentators everywhere agree that businesses must take some important lessons away from the downturn. In particular, the restructuring of workforces and workplaces should become a continuing process as the flexible working practices which helped weather the recession have yielded a number of positives for employers and employees alike.

“Anecdotal evidence gathered by Regus from its operations globally indicated that the shift from traditional commercial property leasing to solutions that accommodate more flexible working systems is certainly under way and likely to play a large part in the coming recovery.”