One third of surveyed firms expect better business results in 2022

About 31.5% of businesses in the processing, manufacturing and construction sectors in Vietnam expected a better business situation in the first quarter of 2023, while 31.2% expected worse results, according to a General Statistics Office survey.

About 37.3% said they predicted stable outcomes. The survey featured responses from 5,636 manufacturing and processing businesses and 6,302 construction firms in all 63 cities and provinces.

Domestic private companies were the most optimistic with 70.3% expecting better or stable results in Q1/2023 compared with Q4/2022. The figures for the state-run businesses and foreign-invested ones were 68.9% and 65.3%, respectively.

Overally, for Q4/2022, 32.6% of businesses rated their outcomes as better than in Q3, while 33.7% said their performances were worse.

Regarding production volumes, 34.3% recorded higher results in Q4 versus Q3, higher than 33% with stable and 32.7% with reduced figures.

About export orders, 39.2% of firm reported lower volumes in Q4 versus Q3 and 33.3% expected similar issues in Q1/2023.

Vietnam’s index of industrial production (IIP) in 2022 went up 7.8% year-on-year, with a growth of 6.8% recorded in Q1, 9.8% in Q2, 10.9% in Q3, and 3% in Q4.

The country's IIP recorded a 1% fall in December from the previous month, due to a lack of orders, high input material prices, and a shortage of input materials, according to the GSO.

Vietnam's economy expanded 8.02% in 2022, a record high since 2007 which exceeded the target of 6.5% set by the National Assembly. This is also the highest growth rate in Southeast Asia.

However, the high growth rate in 2022 is partly derived from the low growth base in the two pandemic years 2020-2021, at 2.91% and 2.58% respectively.