85% of businesses expect better situation in Q3

Hanoi (VNA) – Up to 85% of enterprises in the processing-manufacturing and construction sectors expected
better and stable business situation in the third quarter of this year, while
only 15% predicted that the situation may be tougher, according to a survey
conducted by the General Statistics Office (GSO).
The survey also found that for in the third quarter, 44.9% of the firms surveyed said that they eye a rise in new orders, while 13.8% forecast a decrease. The order balance
indicator in the non-State sector is 31.6%, while that in the FDI sector is 30.8% and in State-owned
sector is 26.4%.
Meanwhile, in the third quarter, 20.2% of enterprises expected a rise in the number of their employees, while 9.3% forecast a fall.
The GSO said that although business and production
have recovered after the COVID-19 pandemic with a high demand for production and
construction materials, domestic steel has surged due to China’s decrease of production and export.

Meanwhile, petroleum price rise has led to an increase in
the prices of other construction materials, directly impacting the cost of projects.
The GSO advised the Government to apply more drastic measures
to stabilise the input material prices for the construction sector, while rolling
out solutions to speed up construction projects, and creating favourable
conditions for businesses to access capital from the State budget.
GSO’s quarterly production and business prospect survey covers
6,500 enterprises in the processing and manufacturing industries and 6,799
enterprises in the construction industry. In the second quarter, the survey
received response from 5,635 processing-manufacturing firms and 6,315
construction companies./.