Vietnam’s business confidence index (BCI) rebounded in the third quarter, up three points over the last quarter and 37 points against the third quarter in 2008.

The survey was conducted by Vietnam World Vest Base Financial Intelligence Services (WVB FISL) and the PetroVietnam Finance Investment and Consultancy Company (PVFC Invest).

After surveying 262 companies in 11 key industries of the country (of which over 70 percent were medium and small-sized businesses), the result signalled a recovery and improved investment potential for Vietnam’s economy in the near future, compared with the first six months of the year.

When asked to make a forecast about the country’s economy in the next 12 months, 84.35 percent of those interviewed said the economy would be better and none believed they would see a worse economy than during the past six months.

Compared with the second quarter, the number of optimistic businesses increased by 7.19 percent and that of pessimistic ones decreased by 1.85 percent.

As many as 60 percent would increase their employment and invest more in fixed assets while 72 percent believed that their revenues and profits would rise in the next 12 months, the survey said.

However, over the last quarter, the number of businesses who were worried about revenues and profits were up 0.06 percent and 1.96 percent, respectively.

The result also showed that many domestic businesses were still concerned about the adverse effects to their business operations of inflation and fluctuations in the exchange rate between the US dollar and Vietnamese dong./.