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Vietnamese businessmen's expection from the Year of the Cat
While optimistic about 2011, Vietnamese businessmen do not expect breakthroughs in the year of the Cat.
“We have set a more modest goal for 2011 than for 2010,” says Ha Van Tham, Chair of Dai Duong Group. “It is partly because we have entered a new development stage and we cannot expect such a high growth rate as previously. But of course, we need to make our bestto obtain high growth value”.
“We will focus on in-depth structural growth and we will pay more attention to the service quality and corporate governance. There are still many open questions about the macroeconomic challenges in the Year of the Cat. Therefore, Dai Duong has decided that 2011 would be the year for consolidation, not the year for rapid growth,” he adds.
The challenges that Tham has mentioned are the inflation rate and the monetary policies. “We are facing a lot of difficulties relating to the inflation rate, trade deficit, the dong/dollar exchange rate. Such difficulties will influence the macroeconomic policies, and the banking sector will be the first to be affected , then the real estate sector and securities, the main business fields of Dai Duong”.
However, Tham can still see opportunities in the challenges. The successful Communist Party’s Congress, the political stability and government’s policies will pave the way for the success/ good performance of businesses, “We believe that the picture of the national economy will become clearer after the first quarter of the year and in the second quarter. This also means that by that time, businesses’ performance will become more positive,” Tham says.
“What we want to see the most in 2011 is the macroeconomic stability and business growth. In doing business, the speed of the growth is very important, but the most important is the sustainable growth. We do not want a high growth rate at any cost,” he says.
Doan Nguyen Duc, Chair of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group, who is known in Vietnam as the second richest stock millionaire, and who owns a private aircraft, believes that 2011 will be a year with many favorable conditions for businesses. “We do not have the habit of foretelling what we are going to do, or believing predictions. Hoang Anh Gia Lai always prepares for all scenarios to happen, from the worst to the best, so that we can quickly respond to any circumstance,” Duc says.
“In the Year of the Cat, we do not have the ambition of making breakthroughs in new business fields, but instead try to do well in the existing fields and where we already have advantages,” he says. In 2011, Hoang Anh Gia Lai will complete the construction of the 450MW power plant, complete the project to grow 51,000 hectares of rubber, and build millions of square meter of houses by the end of 2012. “Only after, will we plan to expand our investment into new fields,” Duc says.
Do Quang Hien, Chair of T&T Group, said that the Government has been applying a lot of policies to stabilize the macroeconomy and fight against high inflation. In in the eyes of foreign investors Vietnam’s conditionshave been improved considerably, so the foreign investment is expected to increase in the time to come. As both the internal conditions and the outside factors are good, Hien believes that Vietnam’s economy will develop better in 2011 than in 2010.
“What we could not achieve in 2010 will be continued and completed in 2011,” Hien says about the plan of his group for 2011.
Meanwhile, Ha Hung Dung, General Director of Indochina Airlines, believes that 2011 will be a good year for him to resume flights after one year of interruption. Indochina Airlines disappeared from the domestic aviation market for one year, and 2011 is thought to be a good year to return.
Quach Manh Hao, Deputy General Director of Thang Long Securities Company predicts that the inflation rate in 2011 will be about eight percent, while the GDP growth rate 7.1 percent.
vietnamnet, VnExpress
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