After 21 consecutive years of implementation, the 2025 report marks a major milestone with the first-ever introduction of the Business Performance Index (BPI) and the launch of PCI 2.0. The BPI comprises 23 indicators measuring market outcomes across two aspects, including private sector development and innovation capacity.
The pilot BPI results for 2025 recorded the top three localities as Ho Chi Minh City with 5.67 points, Hanoi with 5.41 points, and Quang Ninh Province with 5.33 points.
The report also honored the five best-performing localities (listed in alphabetical order), including the provinces and centrally governed cities of Bac Ninh, Da Nang, Hai Phong, Phu Tho, and Quang Ninh. Among them, Bac Ninh ranked first in proactive governance and administrative compliance costs, while Da Nang led the nation in market entry.
Alongside positive signals, the report identified four major bottlenecks facing the private sector, such as output markets, access to capital, informal costs, and policy transparency and predictability. Accordingly, 60.2 percent of businesses reported difficulties in finding customers, a sharp increase from 45.3 percent in 2024. Meanwhile, 75.5 percent of enterprises stated that they were unable to obtain loans without collateral assets.
In the meantime, the proportion of loans requiring collateral in Vietnam reached 93.5 percent, significantly higher than in Malaysia (33.4 percent), Thailand (55.8 percent), and the global average (68.3 percent).
Speaking at the event, Associate Professor Dr. Ho Sy Hung, Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), emphasized that Vietnam’s private economic sector has moved beyond the defensive stage, is steadily strengthening its internal capacity, and is ready to make breakthroughs if bottlenecks related to markets, capital access, and policy transparency are decisively addressed within the next 12 to 18 months.
He added that PCI 2.0, together with the Business Performance Index (BPI), will help provide deeper measurements of governance quality and the enabling capacity of local authorities in the new development phase.
