Vietnam’s enterprises lead HSBC’s business confidence survey

Vietnam’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) recorded an index of 160 points topping the HSBC’s recent survey on business confidence in Asia.

The semi-annual HSBC Small Business Confidence Monitor gauges the six-month outlook of SMEs on local economic growth, capital investment plans and recruitment.

This fifth part of the survey conducted in the fourth quarter of 2009, is the largest to date, capturing the stability and growth of more than 6,000 SMEs across 20 markets in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, North America and Latin America.

The results were used to calculate an index ranging from 0 to 200, where 200 represents the highest confidence level, 0 represents the lowest, and 100, neutral.

In terms of local GDP growth, 71 percent of Vietnam’s SMEs believe that the national GDP will be higher. SMEs expect the percentage of the country’s economic growth to increase more than 4 percent because of the sharp rise in 2009 from 28 percent in the second quarter to 53 percent in the fourth quarter.

The country’s SMEs are also more confident when it comes to investing in their own businesses in the first half of this year with 66 percent of business owners planning to increase their capital expenditures and 54 percent of them re-hiring again.

With plans to expand international businesses, 53 percent of SMEs stated they will increase their activities in 2011.

The result showed that most of Vietnam’s SMEs expect a better recovery of the country’s economy in the next six months, said Director of HSBC Vietnam in charge of business financial and service sector Huynh Buu Quang.

This prediction helped many SMEs plan to increase their staff and investment to welcome new business opportunities in the country and abroad, he said.

VNA/VOVNews

Tags: HSBC’s business confidence survey, Vietnam enterprises