VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese businessmen welcome the new year 2012 with a cautiousness. They have to explore and situation and get ready to quickly respond to all possible happenings in the national economy.

Businessmen have said that even if the situation is getting worse, they would still have to stay safe and overcome difficulties. In order to do that, they have to find the ways of their own, become flexible and adapted to the new circumstances.

“We are practicing for the ability to adapt as quickly as possible in any upcoming economic context, whether it is bad or good,” said Nguyen Minh Phu, Deputy General Director of Hyundai Thanh Cong Automobile Group.

With the “business philosophy”, the manager of Hyundai Thanh Cong does not eagerly expect any adjustments to be made by the government.

“The government needs to lay out policies for the sake of the national benefits, not for the sake of the interests of any specific industries or groups of businesses,” Phu said. “We understand that any policy would show its side effects,” he continued.

Phu implied the possible policies which may bring disadvantages to the automobile industry. The current tax policies seem not to encourage the consumption of luxurious products, including cars.

“We would not focus on obtaining high growth rate, but we would strive to improve the investment efficiency. We would try to cut down expenses to obtain higher investment efficiency,” he said.

Sharing the same view, Luong Van Vinh, General Director of My Hao Cosmetics, said that the conditions are not always favourable for businessmen. My Hao, for example, has been facing big difficulties over the last 2-3 years already.

“I would not be easy in 2012. However, I still decided that we need to obtain the high growth rate of 25 percent in the year,” Vinh said. “We plan to market the products with reasonable prices and acceptable quality, which fit the pockets of consumers in the current difficulties”.

Vinh also said that while My Hao’s products now hold 50 percent of the domestic market share, the exports just account for less than 10 percent of the total output. Therefore, My Hao would try to seek new export markets in 2012 after it successfully exported products to Cuba.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Dien, General Director of An Phuoc Garment Company, said that in 2012, the company would focus on making medium class products for the domestic consumption, which is now accounting for 60 percent of the total sales of the company. In the context of high inflation, product prices need to be more competitive to fit the pockets of consumers.

“We would have to review the production and sales every quarter, so as to adjust our strategy,” Dien said, adding that the company plans to obtain the 20 percent growth rate in 2012.

Le Minh Hai, Deputy Chair of the Vietnam Steel Association, also said that businesses need to find the way out rather than relying on the support from the government.

Businesses look forward for interest rate reductions

When asked what businesses most expect in the government policies in 2012, most businessmen said that they wish to see the interest rates decreasing.

Hai, who is also the General Director of Viet Duc Steel Corporation, said that the bank loan interest rate alone gobbled up 300 billion dong out of the total turnover of 4700 billion dong of the corporation.

“With the sky high interest rates of 23-24 percent per annum, we cannot make profit,” he said.

“The current income is just enough to pay salaries to workers, not enough to fulfill the business plan set up by the shareholders’ meeting,” Hai said. “If the interest rates go down to 12-13 percent, we would be able to obtain the profit of 150 billion dong.”

Pham Huyen