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

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

Aftersurveying 262 companies in 11 key industries of the country (of whichover 70 percent were medium and small-sized businesses), the resultsignalled a recovery and improved investment potential for Vietnam’seconomy in the near future, compared with the first six months of theyear.

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

Compared with the second quarter, the number of optimistic businessesincreased by 7.19 percent and that of pessimistic ones decreased by1.85 percent.

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

However, over the lastquarter, the number of businesses who were worried about revenues andprofits were up 0.06 percent and 1.96 percent, respectively.

The result also showed that many domestic businesses were stillconcerned about the adverse effects to their business operations ofinflation and fluctuations in the exchange rate between the US dollarand Vietnamese dong./.