EuroCham remains upbeat on Vietnam

By Dat Nguyen   July 11, 2018 | 12:13 am PT
EuroCham remains upbeat on Vietnam
A view of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
European firms continue to remain confident that they can do good business in Vietnam, but expect further improvement in its regulatory framework.

These are conclusions drawn by the latest survey carried out by the European Chamber of Commerce Vietnam (EuroCham), which represents almost 1,000 European businesses in Vietnam.

According to the survey, the Business Climate Index (BCI) in the first quarter this year reached 78 on a scale of 0 to 100, one point up from the previous quarterly survey, said EuroCham.

Up to 61 percent of businesses surveyed said that their business situation was either “excellent” or “good” in the first three months this year. Although there was a 10 percent drop in the number of “excellent” votes compared to Q4 2017, there was a 7 percent increase in responses describing the current context as “good.”

45 percent of EuroCham members said they intended to maintain their level of investment in the country, a 9-percent increase over Q4 2017.

European firms also displayed greater willingness to invest more in Vietnam, with 19 percent saying their investment would “increase significantly” and 27 percent going with “increase a little bit.”

Inflation was not a major concern for EuroCham members, with 84 percent of the respondents saying it would have no impact on their business.

However, many businesses said they wanted to see the legal framework improve.

37 percent of the respondents said that they did not see any development in the regulatory landscape of the country last year, while 16 and 18 percent respectively said that regulations have been “slightly complicated” and “significantly more complicated.”

“The BCI survey results for Q1 2018 continue to show positive expectations from EuroCham members towards Vietnam, albeit not at the same levels of optimism that we saw in 2016,” said Nicolas Audier, Co-Chairman of EuroCham.

“EuroCham hopes that this interest inspires the Vietnamese Government to improve the business environment further, as “there is still quite some legal and regulatory work to do in Vietnam.”

 
 
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