Despite some difficulties, businesses are optimistic about the business climate in Vietnam, the Vietnam Economic News quoted a recent General Statistical Office’s survey as saying.

The survey also indicated that 71.6 percent of responded businesses said they expected their revenues to increase this year; another 14.7 percent predicted their turnovers would remain unchanged and another 13.7 percent said they would see a decline in their revenues, compared with 54.1 percent, 9 percent and 36.9 percent for 2013, respectively.

According to the survey, 75.1 percent of businesses said their pre-tax profits would increase in 2014, while only 5.8 percent expected to remain stable, and another 19.1 percent said they would make lower profits than they did for 2013, compared with 46.4 percent, 10.9 percent and 42.7 percent respectively last year.

Meanwhile, 34.1 percent of businesses expected to increase their export revenues in 2014; 60.6 percent predicted their export value would hold steady; and 5.3 percent said their export earning would go down, compared with 26.6 percent, 61 percent and 12.4 percent respectively for 2013.

In term of capital, 60.8 percent of surveyed businesses said they would maintain their current level of investment this year; 33 percent expected to increase capital; and only 6.2 percent anticipated reducing it, compared with 55.3 percent, 30.8 percent, and 13.9 percent respectively for 2013.

Regarding to employment issue, 51.5 percent of responded businesses said they would maintain their current number of employees this year; 38.5 percent expected to increase their labour forces; and only 10 percent anticipated cutting staff, compared with 44.8 percent, 29.7 percent and 25.5 percent respectively for 2013.

The General Statistical Office also said that many Vietnamese businesses did not have adequate information on global market demand as 55.8 percent of them said they did not know or could not evaluate the current demand in the global market. This weakness had significantly affected the sustainability of Vietnamese businesses, particularly exporters, the survey said.

The General Statistical Office carried out a survey of 7,675 businesses currently operating in Vietnam including 237 state-owned enterprises, 6,812 non-state businesses and 626 foreign-invested businesses.-VNA