Hoang Quang Phong, deputy chair of the Vietnam Confederation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said in 2022, Vietnam is recovering well despite uncertainties in the world. The World Bank has lifted its predicted GDP growth rate of Vietnam to 7.2 percent in 2022.

However, many problems exist. It is estimated that 18,100 businesses are established each month, but 12,500 businesses leave the market. The figures show that the business community remains hurt by difficulties in the global and domestic economy. 

A survey on business trends in Q3 2022 conducted by the General Statistics Office (GSO) found that the number of orders in the fields of manufacturing and processing has decreased. The number of enterprises with financial difficulties accounted for 30.8 percent, while the number of enterprises complaining about material shortages accounted for 26 percent.

The difficulties enterprises face include input material price increases, risks from supply chains, pressure on exchange rates, and lower demand.

Nguyen Hong Long, deputy head of SCEID, said  increasing inflation in Vietnam’s key export markets such as the US and EU has forced people to tighten their purse strings and caused a reduction in the number of orders over the last two months.

The global growth rate has been lowered by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to 2.7 percent from 3.5 percent. This has led to a decrease in demand for goods, thus affecting production and exports of many countries, including Vietnam.

Le Duy Binh, CEO of Economica Vietnam, said the investment in the private sector has increased significantly, accounting for 60 percent of total investment of the entire society. However, capital use efficiency is on the decrease. 

In 2010, the private sector needed to spend VND4.3 to create one dong of GDP. In 2021, it spent VND23.4 to create one dong of GDP.

He said private enterprises need to seek other driving forces for growth, such as technology reform and high-quality human resources to improve productivity and reduce costs, thus improving  competitiveness.

According to Duong from MIC, many enterprises are hesitant to digitize as they think that digital transformation will lead to higher production costs while they face financial problems.

However, Duong said that experience from the latest crisis showed that businesses that use digital technology recover better than businesses that don’t.

Tran Thuy