Brighter prospects for Vietnamese economy

As many as 42 percent of surveyed enterprises said they could enlarge their production while 50.7 percent of them planned to maintain their existing business scale, with only 6.7 percent thinking of narrowing manufacturing.

Despite many difficulties, domestic production and business activities saw signs of recovery at the end of 2013, attributed to escalating consumption demand before the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, according to Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises Cao Sy Khiem.

In-depth integration into the international arena still remains an impetus to the economy. Noticeably, the TPP, an expansion of the 2005 Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement, will have a great effect on the economy as it will bring tariffs to zero percent on trade among its members, including Vietnam, according to economic specialist Le Dang Doanh.

Many business associations and large corporations also have high expectations of the benefits the TPP will bring about.

The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) hopes that the agreement will help raise export turnover of the sector to 30 billion USD in 2020 and 55 billion USD by 2030.

Besides big opportunities in boosting exports and FDI attraction, the TPP will also bring challenges to many domestic sectors. The domestic breeding industry, for example could face difficulties competing with partners from developed countries.

In the same way, economic collaboration between ASEAN countries as well as their newly-signed cooperation agreements will facilitate Vietnamese enterprises' investment activities and help expand their market share and exports, while exposing them to increasing competition from rivals in the region.

Low-price commodities will flow in, while domestic skilled labourers will move to other ASEAN countries, Doanh said.

(Source: QDND.VN)