SMEs believe in decisive role for national development

A majority of Vietnam’s small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) believed in their decisive role for the future of the national economy as well as were their business development prospects.

The result was indicated in an annual survey on Asia’s business situation conducted by the world’s leading transportation group UPS called Asia Business Monitor (ABM) which was announced Wednesday.

The 2010 ABM was conducted on around 1,350 leaders of SMEs from 13 countries and territories, including Australia , China , Hong Kong , India , Indonesia , Japan , the Republic of Korea , Malaysia , the Philippines , Singapore , Taiwan , Thailand and Vietnam . This was the first time Vietnam took part in the survey.

According to the survey, 59 percent of Vietnamese SMEs showed their optimism about further development of the Asia-Pacific economy, 9 percent said the regional economy sees a downward trend and the remaining 32 percent said it will remain unchanged.

Vietnam was the second optimistic market in the region in business development prospect in 2010 with 72 percent of interviewed businesses saying their companies will reap better results this year. Indian businesses are the most optimistic about this prospect with 85 percent.

Although nine out of ten Vietnamese SMEs pay attention to business activities in the Asia-Pacific market, they also expect their growths in other regions. Eighty-one percent of surveyed businesses forecast that Vietnam ’s business activities will increase 61 percent in North American and 60 percent in Europe .

Fifty-eight percent of Vietnamese SMEs said international business has positive impacts and opens up new opportunities for their operations. They added that architecture-construction, information technology and tourism will be key sectors in 2010.

Although the national economy is forecast to keep growing this year, Vietnamese businesses are facing a lot of challenges, particularly, high credit interest rate and competitiveness pressure.

Vietnam’s SMEs said the government’s supportive polices are very necessary for them to improve their competitiveness.

 

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SMEs believe in decisive role for national development

A majority of Vietnam’s small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
believed in their decisive role for the future of the national economy
as well as were their business development prospects.

The result was indicated in an annual survey on Asia’s business
situation conducted by the world’s leading transportation group UPS
called Asia Business Monitor (ABM) which was announced on September 29.

The 2010 ABM was conducted on around 1,350
leaders of SMEs from 13 countries and territories, including Australia ,
China , Hong Kong , India , Indonesia , Japan , the Republic of
Korea , Malaysia , the Philippines , Singapore , Taiwan , Thailand
and Vietnam . This was the first time Vietnam took part in the
survey.

According to the survey, 59 percent of
Vietnamese SMEs showed their optimism about further development of the
Asia-Pacific economy, 9 percent said the regional economy sees a
downward trend and the remaining 32 percent said it will remain
unchanged.

Vietnam was the second optimistic
market in the region in business development prospect in 2010 with 72
percent of interviewed businesses saying their companies will reap
better results this year. Indian businesses are the most optimistic
about this prospect with 85 percent.

Although
nine out of ten Vietnamese SMEs pay attention to business activities in
the Asia-Pacific market, they also expect their growths in other
regions. Eighty-one percent of surveyed businesses forecast that
Vietnam ’s business activities will increase 61 percent in North
American and 60 percent in Europe .

Fifty-eight
percent of Vietnamese SMEs said international business has positive
impacts and opens up new opportunities for their operations. They added
that architecture-construction, information technology and tourism will
be key sectors in 2010.

Although the national
economy is forecast to keep growing this year, Vietnamese businesses are
facing a lot of challenges, particularly, high credit interest rate and
competitiveness pressure.

Vietnam’s SMEs said the government’s supportive polices are very necessary for them to improve their competitiveness./.

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Macro-economic instability a national concern

Photo: Tuoi Tre

How to keep the macro-economy growing steadily topped an on-going workshop in Ho Chi Minh City, where economists pointed out differing trends in the national economy that are difficult to forecast.

Dr. Tran Dinh Thien from the Vietnam Economic Institute said that the national economy was looking good as GDP growth has been high for consecutive years and in the third quarter it is likely to reach 7.18 percent, with inflation under control at 5.08 percent in the first eight months.

He warned however, at the two-day workshop on September 21, that the macro-economy has shown uncertain signs and was very difficult for economists to forecast.

He also complained of slow reforms in the internal structure.

Thien, urged immediate reforms in the State budgets, public investment and State-owned economic groups.

He also called for the State Bank of Vietnam to hold an independent position, and more efforts to develop the supporting industries and regional economies.

Salary reforms in the State economic sector and improving the handling of the macro-economy were the other steps that the senior economist urged to be taken.

Dr. Vo Dai Luoc pointed out the nation’s illogical macro-economic developments that need to be addressed, such as high inflation, the highest interest rates on deposits and loans in the world and an inflated Vietnamese dong amidst fixed exchange rates.

To address these problems, Luoc called on the State to introduce economic adjustments.

The State should also ensure reasonable growth and control inflation when handling the macro economy, he emphasised.

The World Bank’s Acting Economic Head, Keiko Kubota, recognised Vietnam’s efforts to reach to the world’s average income level of US$1,100 thanks to its drastic economic growth.

However she pointed out that the development was based on the renewal process which has been losing its momentum and has been threatened with emerging challenges in management as well as poverty and imparity.

The Vietnamese economy is still highly competitive and has yet to fall into the income trap, the senior economist from the world’s largest development bank said.

She called on Vietnam’s development strategy to focus its economic growth on the private sector and prevent the real estate market from overheating.

Top priority should be given to pre-empting crises and supporting productivity including human resources, urbanisation and infrastructure, the WB economist concluded.

The two-day workshop, was held in the nation’s largest economic hub under the co-sponsorship of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee and the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. It drew representatives from the Party, National Assembly and Government as well as senior experts, both from Vietnam and abroad

 

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Macro-economic instability a national concern

How to keep the macro-economy growing steadily topped an on-going
workshop in Ho Chi Minh City, where economists pointed out differing
trends in the national economy that are difficult to forecast.

Dr. Tran Dinh Thien from the Vietnam Economic Institute said that the
national economy was looking good as GDP growth has been high for
consecutive years and in the third quarter it is likely to reach 7.18
percent, with inflation under control at 5.08 percent in the first eight
months.

He warned however, at the two-day workshop on
September 21, that the macro-economy has shown uncertain signs and was
very difficult for economists to forecast.

He also complained of slow reforms in the internal structure.

Thien, urged immediate reforms in the State budgets, public investment and State-owned economic groups.

He also called for the State Bank of Vietnam to hold an independent
position, and more efforts to develop the supporting industries and
regional economies.

Salary reforms in the State
economic sector and improving the handling of the macro-economy were the
other steps that the senior economist urged to be taken.

Dr. Vo Dai Luoc pointed out the nation’s illogical macro-economic
developments that need to be addressed, such as high inflation, the
highest interest rates on deposits and loans in the world and an
inflated Vietnamese dong amidst fixed exchange rates.

To address these problems, Luoc called on the State to introduce economic adjustments.

The State should also ensure reasonable growth and control inflation when handling the macro economy, he emphasised.

The World Bank’s Acting Economic Head, Keiko Kubota, recognised
Vietnam’s efforts to reach to the world’s average income level of 1,100
USD thanks to its drastic economic growth.

However she
pointed out that the development was based on the renewal process which
has been losing its momentum and has been threatened with emerging
challenges in management as well as poverty and imparity.

The Vietnamese economy is still highly competitive and has yet to fall
into the income trap, the senior economist from the world’s largest
development bank said.

She called on Vietnam’s
development strategy to focus its economic growth on the private sector
and prevent the real estate market from overheating.

Top priority should be given to pre-empting crises and supporting
productivity including human resources, urbanisation and infrastructure,
the WB economist concluded.

The two-day workshop, was
held in the nation’s largest economic hub under the co-sponsorship of
the National Assembly’s Economic Committee and the Vietnam Academy of
Social Sciences. It drew representatives from the Party, National
Assembly and Government as well as senior experts, both from Vietnam and
abroad./.

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Economic growth remains positive, say experts

The national economy has continued to grow encouragingly in the last eight months although it has experienced a number of difficulties in production and investment, natural disasters and diseases in plants and animals, say analysts from the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The recently issued figures point to an increase of 13.7 percent in the value of industrial production, which was estimated at VND504 trillion. Surprisingly the figure is even higher than the yearly target of 12 percent.

The foreign-invested sector continues to lead in value, registering a growth of 17.3 percent. It was followed by the non-state sector at 12.7 percent and the state-owned sector with 9 percent.

Experts highlighted the stability in agricultural production during the reviewed period, citing the autumn-winter rice crop of 1,446,000 ha, equivalent to 98.8 percent of the same period last year and the maize crop of 936,000 ha, a rise of 12.5 percent.

Although diseases in plants have affected both rice and subsidiary crops nationwide, the effect has been marginal, noted experts.

They estimate that the country’s turnover of commodities and services will hit VND1,009 trillion in the reviewed period, or a surge of 62 percent year on year.

The earnings from export in the past eight months have reached $44.5 billion, an increase of 19.7 percent year on year.

Of this, $20.65 billion was provided by foreign-invested companies and $2.3 billion is due to rises in the prices of products in the world market.

The exports that registered rises include steel and iron (up 103 percent), chemicals and chemical products (83 percent), electrical wires and cables (72 percent), machinery, equipment and spare parts (61 percent), timber and furniture (36 percent) and computer, electronic products and components (30 percent).

Although imports in August fell by 1.5 percent to $6.9 billion, in the past eight months they reached $52 billion, a yearly rise of 24.4 percent.

As with exports, imports included $3.8 billion from rises in the prices of almost all imported items, such as liquefied gas up by 38.5 percent, petroleum up 35.5 percent and the raw materials to make plastics 32.4 percent.

By mid-August, the State budget had already collected VND313.5 trillion, or 67.9 percent of the yearly estimate.

This includes VND195.5 trillion from local sources (66.4 percent of yearly estimate), VND38.6 trillion from crude oil (52 percent of yearly estimate), and nearly VND76 trillion from imports-exports (79.6 percent of yearly estimate).

Besides these gains, the national economy still faces a number of difficulties including a high trade deficit, the rising prices of products on the world market, especially raw materials, a lack of capital, high interest rates for producers and manufacturers and the threat of diseases and natural disasters.

To address these difficulties and maintain a positive growth by the years end, State agencies need to focus on measures to promote production and business and manage the import of goods that could be produced locally and are non-essential, experts said.

They also urged the State to focus on product quality and detecting trade and tax fraud.

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Economic growth remains positive, say experts

The national economy has continued to grow encouragingly in the last
eight months although it has experienced a number of difficulties in
production and investment, natural disasters and diseases in plants and
animals, say analysts from the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The recently issued figures point to an increase of 13.7 percent in the
value of industrial production, which was estimated at 504 trillion VND.
Surprisingly the figure is even higher than the yearly target of 12
percent.

The foreign-invested sector continues to lead in value,
registering a growth of 17.3 percent. It was followed by the non-state
sector at 12.7 percent and the state-owned sector with 9 percent.

Experts
highlighted the stability in agricultural production during the
reviewed period, citing the autumn-winter rice crop of 1,446,000 ha,
equivalent to 98.8 percent of the same period last year and the maize
crop of 936,000 ha, a rise of 12.5 percent.

Although diseases in
plants have affected both rice and subsidiary crops nationwide, the
effect has been marginal, noted experts.

They estimate that the
country’s turnover of commodities and services will hit 1,009 trillion
VND in the reviewed period, or a surge of 62 percent year on year.

The earnings from export in the past eight months have reached 44.5 billion USD, an increase of 19.7 percent year on year.

Of
this, 20.65 billion USD was provided by foreign-invested companies and
2.3 billion USD is due to rises in the prices of products in the world
market.

The exports that registered rises include steel
and iron (up 103 percent), chemicals and chemical products (83 percent),
electrical wires and cables (72 percent), machinery, equipment and
spare parts (61 percent), timber and furniture (36 percent) and
computer, electronic products and components (30 percent).

Although
imports in August fell by 1.5 percent to 6.9 billion USD, in the past
eight months they reached 52 billion USD, a yearly rise of 24.4 percent.

As
with exports, imports included 3.8 billion USD from rises in the prices
of almost all imported items, such as liquefied gas up by 38.5 percent,
petroleum up 35.5 percent and the raw materials to make plastics 32.4
percent.

By mid-August, the State budget had already collected 313.5 trillion VND, or 67.9 percent of the yearly estimate.

This
includes 195.5 trillion VND from local sources (66.4 percent of yearly
estimate), 38.6 trillion VND from crude oil (52 percent of yearly
estimate), and nearly 76 trillion VND from imports-exports (79.6 percent
of yearly estimate).

Besides these gains, the national economy
still faces a number of difficulties including a high trade deficit, the
rising prices of products on the world market, especially raw
materials, a lack of capital, high interest rates for producers and
manufacturers and the threat of diseases and natural disasters.

To
address these difficulties and maintain a positive growth by the years
end, State agencies need to focus on measures to promote production and
business and manage the import of goods that could be produced locally
and are non-essential, experts said.

They also urged the State to focus on product quality and detecting trade and tax fraud./.

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