Business activities will be better in 2019’s first quarter: firms

More than 47.3% of surveyed firms said that they anticipated better business compared to the last quarter of 2018, and 37.8% expected stable business.

Only 14.9% forecast their business and operation would be more difficult.

The inventory of the manufacturing and processing industry sits at 64.4%, the lowest rate in the past three years.

Another survey of construction firms showed 59.6% predicted improved or stable business in the first quarter of 2019 while the rest expected more difficulties.

According to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vietnamese firms were also optimistic about their business prospects in 2019 with 51% saying they had plans to expand.

A recent survey by the Vietnam Supply Chain also found that more than 80% of surveyed firms believed 2019 would be a better year than 2018. Only 7.7% were worried 2019 would be worse while 9% were not sure.

GSO General Director Nguyen Bich Lam said business confidence had improved significantly thanks to the stable macroeconomic situation and improved business climate.

The number of new firms also increased for the third consecutive year to set new records.

More than 131,000 new firms were established in 2018, an increase of 3.5% over the record of 127,000 new firms set in 2017.

On average, each new firm had a registered capital of VND11.3 billion (US$491,000), up by 10.2% over last year.

Firms registered to pump a total of more than VND3.88 quadrillion into the economy in 2018.

However, the GSO noted the number of firms temporarily halting operations rose by a whopping 49.7% against 2017. The considerable rise in this number was partly due to business registration offices nationwide conducting reviews and eliminating firms which did not report any operations for a long time.

The number of firms which were dissolved in 2018 was more than 16,300; 91% of them had registered capital of below VND10 billion.

Pham Dinh Thuy, Director of the GSO’s Industry Statistics Department, said he believes the Government’s target of having one million firms by 2020 is within reach. He said that as of July 1, 2018, there were already 720,000 firms.