Strengthening confidence, creating momentum for businesses to overcome difficulties

The "four pillars" of the Resolution, along with major national reforms and policies, have contributed to supporting and strengthening confidence, creating momentum for businesses to overcome difficulties.

Carrying out business license registration procedures in Gia Lai . (Photo: Quang Thai/VNA)

The Private Economic Development Research Board (Board IV, under the Prime Minister's Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform) said it has just sent a report to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on "Business Confidence in 2025."

The report is based on the results of a large-scale survey combined with in-depth interviews with association leaders and typical businesses in various industries and fields.

Create momentum for businesses to overcome difficulties

The survey results show a challenging backdrop for businesses and the economy. The recovery of businesses from COVID-19 has been slowed by unpredictable fluctuations on a global scale, especially the reciprocal tariffs of the United States.

In that context, the "four pillars" of the Resolution, along with major national reforms and policies, have contributed to supporting and strengthening confidence, creating momentum for businesses to overcome difficulties, maintain and expand production and business, and contribute to the growth targets for 2025.

According to Board IV, on the positive side, although tariff fluctuations are very serious, compared to the survey figures of the same period in 2024, the situation of enterprises is not too pessimistic, shown through the figures: 15.9% of enterprises positively/very positively assess the macroeconomic situation; 12.7% positively/very positively assess the industry economic situation; 18.5% positively/very positively assess the economic outlook for the next 12 months; 12% of enterprises plan to expand production scale while 20.4% of enterprises maintain the same scale.

The construction industry has recovered well thanks to the momentum from public investment and the recovery of the real estate market. This is a sign that the Government 's policies have had a positive impact in practice.

Enterprises carry out procedures for exporting goods at Lao Bao international border gate customs, Quang Tri province. (Photo: Vu Sinh/VNA)

In the context of export activities - a driving force of growth, being affected by the tariff war, the fact that business confidence has not declined too much is also a bright spot, demonstrating the maturity of businesses, the internal strength of the economy and the timely impact of management and related policies.

However, on the negative side, the economic situation and prospects from the business perspective still face many difficulties and challenges.

The recovery of business confidence after COVID-19 through surveys has made certain progress but shows signs of faltering in the context of many changes in the global economy, as shown by the indicators: 63.7% of businesses participating in the survey assessed the current economic situation as "negative/very negative" compared to the same period; 56.8% assessed the economic outlook for the next 12 months as "negative/very negative".

Regarding internal strength and business projections, 67.6% of businesses plan to reduce their scale, temporarily suspend their business or cease their business in the next 12 months. Of these, 15.7% plan to suspend their business or wait for dissolution; 10.8% plan to temporarily suspend their business; 23.3% plan to sharply reduce their scale and 17.8% plan to slightly reduce their scale.

Of the 1,125 enterprises expected to remain in operation in the second half of 2025, 56.4% said they would reduce their workforce by more than 5%, of which 10.4% would reduce by more than 50%; 61.6% of enterprises expected to reduce revenue by more than 5%, of which the rate of revenue reduction by more than 50% was 13.8%.

Need to pay attention to the private economic sector

In particular, Panel IV said that the private economic sector still appears to be "out of breath" compared to other economic sectors in the recovery process, as shown through four surveys from April 2023 to present.

Compared to previous surveys, the average score of non-state enterprises assessing the economic situation is also lower, with a slower recovery rate and less stability than FDI enterprises and state-owned enterprises.

“It is necessary to continue paying attention to the private economic sector because it is the most important driving force of the national economy, playing a decisive role in improving labor productivity to contribute to making Vietnam a high-income country by 2045, as well as realizing the goals of Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW and other Resolutions in the “four pillars” of the Politburo Resolution,” Committee IV commented.

The survey results also show that businesses in general are facing many difficulties, including those mentioned in previous surveys such as: Difficulties in implementing administrative procedures and complying with legal regulations (69.1%); risk of criminalizing economic transactions (42.8%); difficulties in grasping state policies (35.95%); difficulties related to US counterpart taxes (27.1%); difficulties with orders (23.5%).

Creating conditions for the private economy to access clean land and synchronous infrastructure is essential, while programs to support technology transfer, innovation, trade promotion, and market connection need to be promoted. (Photo: Vietnam+)

Thus, besides the newly arising difficulty of the US reciprocal tax, "difficulty in carrying out administrative procedures and meeting legal requirements" has become the biggest difficulty for businesses.

In the context of institutional reform, this change shows that many practical issues in administrative reform and building a two-level government need to be thoroughly addressed and focused on the spirit of public-private partnership in the process.

In addition, Committee IV also said that although Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW on private economic development affirmed the right to freedom of business and the principle of non-criminalization of economic transactions, "the risk of criminalization of economic transactions" is still the second most difficult problem for businesses, unchanged from previous surveys.

This shows that it is necessary to quickly bring the spirit of the Resolution into life to promote business confidence of enterprises and entrepreneurs in the new context. The survey results also show that there is a correlation between "confidence in the Party's resolutions" and "the confidence of enterprises in expanding investment, production and business."

In the context of the still difficult economy, the external pressures are increasingly large and unpredictable, the spirit of the Resolutions has created a fulcrum and bright colors for the confidence of businesses and entrepreneurs.

Source: VNA

Source: https://baophutho.vn/cung-co-niem-tin-tao-xung-luc-de-doanh-nghiep-vuot-qua-kho-khan-237436.htm