Vietnam small businesses most optimistic in Asia-Pacific about post-Covid recovery

Seventy two percent of SMEs believed they would remain in business while 65 percent were confident they would expand after the pandemic, the highest ratios in both categories, according to the survey by American multinational information technology firm Hewlett-Packard released on Monday.

The overall ratios for the region were 60 percent and 53 percent, the survey which polled 1,600 businesses in Vietnam and seven other countries, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand, found.

In Vietnam, 41 percent expected to see growth next year, against the regional ratio of only 16 percent , with 47 percent of believing digital adoption held the key to post-pandemic growth.

"Small and medium enterprises are vital to Vietnam’s economic growth, but the pandemic has severely affected them," Nguyen Minh Duc, CEO of HP Vietnam, said.

"However, Vietnam has succeeded in controlling the Covid-19 pandemic, helping them quickly recover."

Thanks to aggressive tracing and mass testing, Vietnam successfully contained a second Covid-19 outbreak in July after more than three months without local transmission.

The country of 96 million has recorded 1,283 infections and 35 deaths.