Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi - European business confidence in Vietnam’s investment environment continued to rise at the start of 2022, according to the website Fibre2Fashion.com.

The website cited the business climate index (BCI) from the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) conducted by YouGov as showing that for the first quarter of 2022, the index climbed to 73 points, once again reaching its highest point after the fourth wave of the pandemic.

This is a 12-point increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, in addition to nearly 58 points of growth compared to the third quarter, with business leaders now more upbeat after the relaxation of Vietnam’s pandemic-related restrictions and the continued acceleration of its economic development, EuroCham Vietnam said in a press release.

European business leaders are generally showing increasingly improving attitudes towards the prospective growth of Vietnam’s economy as well. More than two-thirds of respondents now believe that the Vietnamese economy is more likely to stabilise and improve in the second quarter of 2022, compared to 58 percent who held this view in the fourth quarter of 2021.

European business stakeholders also indicated ambitious second quarter projections for their companies, especially when compared to projections made for the first quarter. Nearly 66 per cent of respondents are expecting increased revenue for the second quarter of the year, compared to 52 percent three months earlier.

Likewise, more than 46 percent of respondents are forecasting headcount increases for next quarter.

The BCI is a regular barometer of European business leaders and investors. This research was first conducted in 2013 and has been carried out by YouGov since 2020.