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Nation's economy signals steady recovery
Led by emerging markets, small – and medium-sized enterprises worldwide showed increasing confidence and demonstrated steady signs of recovery in the first half of 2010, according to the semi-annual HSBC Small Business Confidence Monitor released last week.
The report gauges the six-month outlook of SMEs on local economic growth, capital investment plans and recruitment.
It captures the views of more than 6,300 SMEs across 21 markets in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, North America and Latin America. Results were used to calculate an index ranging from 0 to 200, where 200 represents the highest confidence level.
Viet Nam remains at the top of the 21 markets surveyed with an index of 164, followed by Turkey (138), Singapore (136), the Middle East (132), mainland China (123) and India (121).
In terms of local economic growth over the next six months, the majority of the country's SMEs have a positive outlook, with an increase in the percentage of SMEs (77 per cent in 2Q 2010 vs 71 per cent in 4Q 2009) expecting growth to increase.
Only 7 per cent expect growth to slow in the next six months. Southeast Asia, which stands at 47 per cent, expects the pace of economic growth to increase, while the rate of Western Europe is 10 per cent.
Small businesses in Viet Nam place great faith in Government policy. The majority of the respondents (48 per cent) said they thought Government measures were the key driver for local economic growth.
About 70 per cent of Vietnamese SMEs say they will increase their capital expenditure in the year's second half, while the global rate is 41 per cent.
Globally, 26 per cent plan to expand their workforce, while 70 per cent will maintain their current staffing levels over the next six months. Viet Nam SMEs appear to continue to be optimistic, with 58 per cent (54 per cent in 4Q 2009) planning to hire more staff.
This HSBC survey shows that the top barrier for Viet Nam SMEs doing international business has changed from "unstable financial conditions" to "concern about dealing in foreign currencies".
For those not doing international business, the top barrier or reason for not entering the international market is "the complexity of certain international markets, like tax and foreign currency controls."
When asked about the leading locations for international businesses, Viet Nam SMEs seem to be in line with the global intra-trade trend, as they put Greater China, Asia and Southeast Asia at the top.
Thuy Anh
vietnamnews
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