Vietnam business optimism is third highest globall
The survey, part of its International Business Report 2008, places the Vietnamese executives’ positive optimism figure - the percentage balance of the respondents who are optimistic and those who are pessimistic - at 87 percent, behind only Filipinos and Indians at 95 percent.
India had ranked first and the Philippines second last year.
Singapore, Hong Kong, Poland, and Australia follow, with China in eighth place, down from third last year.
The optimism in Vietnam can be attributed to the robust economic growth of recent years and wide-spread expectations that the momentum will be sustained during 2008, the report says.
The Vietnamese business leaders’ positive optimism about revenue growth, profitability growth, and employment levels are at 98, 97, and 87 percent respectively.
Somewhat less, but still strong, is positive optimism for selling price increases, exports, and investment.
The largest majority cited general economic conditions as their primary reason but only slightly ahead of the political situation.
Interestingly, they have the highest confidence in their country’s political situation in Asia with 49 per-cent positive, while Singapore is at 33 percent positive, and Thailand 25 percent.
“These first time survey results for Vietnam are very encouraging.
We have witnessed significant growth and improvement recently,” said Ken Atkinson, managing partner of Grant Thornton Vietnam.
The survey, now in its seventh year globally, includes Vietnam for the first time.
Credit crunch? Bring it on
The survey polled business leaders in 34 countries and territories accounting for more than four fifths of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), including the U.S, Brazil, Japan, the U.K, Italy, and Mexico.
Despite the credit crunch panic, global business optimism has only dropped slightly, it says, adding 42 percent of business leaders report feeling optimistic about the economic outlook for the next twelve months, just 3 percent lower than in January 2007.
Optimism in the US has even gone up to 22 percent from 14 per-cent last year though the country faces the subprime mortgage crisis and resulting credit crunch.
But optimism across Asia about the regional economy fell 14 percent from 54 percent last year, pulled down by increasing pessimism in Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan.
Japanese businesses are the least optimistic in the survey, with the score slumping from minus 5 percent to minus 44 percent, a trend seen since 2003.
Thailand too sees a big dip as optimism has fallen from a high of 30 percent positive in 2007 to minus 30 percent.
Source: Thanniennews
