Vietnam gets its first index of business-confidence

Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam WVB Financial Intelligence Service (WVB FISL) and PetroVietnam Finance Investment and Consultancy Company (PVFC Invest) have devised their own Business Confidence Index (BCI) for Vietnam.

The new system will come into operation for the fourth quarter of the year,
ending in December. It will be based on an average 100 points. Readings
of 100 and above will denote expansionary situations, while those below this
level will, according to the private assessors, reflect contraction.

The result of a survey in the third quarter of this year indicates that the
majority of respondents basically have a strong belief in the positive
changes and improvement in Vietnam 's economy.

The survey and research team appointed to grade companies has selected the
following six criteria - economic conditions, economic outlook, expected
change in employment, planned investments, expected revenue growth and
expected profit growth.

These six questions will be asked quarterly to build an index data base.
Besides these six questions, other topical questions will also be included
in the survey.

"After careful consideration, we finally have a list of survey participants
across various industries. They are the country's leading enterprises in
branding, assets, revenue and number of employees," said Nguyen Van Xuyen,
CEO of PVFC Invest.

"Half of the survey participants selected are small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) because SMEs account for more than 95 percent of all
businesses and contribute greatly to our economy," he said.-Enditem