HÀ NỘI — New data from EuroCham’s Business Climate Index (BCI) has revealed that European business leaders remain positive about doing business in Việt Nam.

Over 200 representatives of EuroCham member companies responded to the latest BCI, covering the third quarter of this year, which was released yesterday.

Confidence in Việt Nam’s trade and investment environment is at 81 points, the second-highest point since the end of 2016. Despite a slight dip since the high watermark of the second quarter – the highest BCI score for 18 months – business sentiment in the third quarter remains strong.

EuroCham enterprises continued to perform well in the last quarter, with 57 per cent describing their situation as ‘good’ and a further 10 per cent as ‘excellent’.

“The results of EuroCham’s latest BCI are another vote of confidence in Việt Nam’s trade and investment environment. Our members continue to report positive signals across the board, from increasing their investment to growing their workforce,” said Nicolas Audier, Co-Chairman of EuroCham.

“In October, EuroCham and Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) co-organised a high-level lunch in Brussels with the Prime Minister, bringing together almost 20 major business leaders from across Europe eager to grow their investment in Việt Nam. The strong interest in this event highlights the appetite of European investors to increase their footprint in Việt Nam, with ratification of the EU-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement on the horizon. EuroCham will continue to push for the quick ratification of this historic deal, and encourage more European trade and investment in Việt Nam in the future.”

Meanwhile, just 8 per cent described their situation as negative in the third quarter.

Looking ahead to the next quarter, business leaders remain optimistic, with just under 60 per cent anticipating a ‘good’ outlook for their enterprise, with a further 11 per cent looking forward to an ‘excellent’ end to 2018.

EuroCham members are also positive about Việt Nam’s macroeconomic future, with 58 per cent predicting ‘stabilisation and improvement’ in the next quarter and 32 per cent believing that it will remain static. Meanwhile, less than 10 per cent of business leaders anticipate a worsening outlook.

The BCI looks into the detail of business operations of European companies, asking questions about staffing, investment plans and revenue prospects. More than half of business leaders anticipate growing their workforce in the fourth quarter, with 41.9 per cent predicting a ‘moderate’ and a further 8.4 per cent predicting a ‘significant’ increase. Less than 8 per cent believe that their headcount will fall.

Likewise, in excess of 50 per cent of EuroCham members believe their business will grow its investment in the last quarter of 2018, with 40.9 per cent predicting a ‘moderate’ rise and 10.8 per cent predicting a ‘significant’ rise. Just 6 per cent foresee a reduction.

Revenue projections are even more impressive, with some 70 per cent of business leaders anticipating either a ‘significant’ (15.3 per cent) or ‘moderate’ (56.2) rise in orders or revenue in the fourth quarter. — VNS