The International Business Report survey said local businesses scored 72 percent on the survey’s optimistic balance index, behind Chile, India and Australia with 85, 84 and 79 percent.
The percent balance is the difference between the percentage of respondents who were optimistic scoring from 1 to 100 percent and those who were pessimistic with negative scores.
The survey, conducted of 7,400 privately held businesses across 36 economies, said Vietnam was among the economies that avoided a recession and so its businesses were more optimistic than those in the throes of economic contraction or stasis.
Optimism among private businesses around the world has bounced back to give the index for 2010 an optimism balance of 24 percent, compared to its lowest ever score of minus 16 percent at this time last year, according to the survey. Spain, with minus 56 percent, and Japan’s minus 72 percent kept their places as the most pessimistic economies in the world.
The survey also highlighted a group of ten economies where businesses were more optimistic about the outlook for their economies than International Monetary Fund forecasts might suggest.
Vietnam is the most optimistic, with 95 percent of respondents forecasting an increase in revenue and 91 percent an increase in profitability this year, according to the survey.
It said that due to the global recession, businesses expected average selling prices in Vietnam to decrease by 13 percent.
When asked about employment expectations in 2010, Vietnam is still placed number 1 with 60 percent of the respondents expecting higher levels of employment this year. There was no change in Vietnam’s sentiment towards employment from last year.
When respondents were asked to rank likely business trends in 2010, 40 percent in Vietnam said they expected increased revenues. Increased turnover was followed by the surprisingly positive view shared by 31 percent of respondents that investment in factories and machinery would increase, while 29 percent expected higher profitability.
Businesses were much less hopeful about selling prices with 21 out of 36 economies less optimistic about increasing their prices than they were last year.
All countries who recorded negative balances for employment were European, led by Ireland and Italy, both minus 14 percent, compared to balances of 33 percent and 42 percent in Asia Pacific and Latin America respectively.
Reported by Minh Quang
