Ho Chi Minh City tops Vietnam private economic efficiency list

The report, announced at a ceremony in Hanoi on Friday alongside the 2025 Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI), shed light on the growing readiness of Vietnam’s private sector to enter a new phase of accelerated growth.

Ho Chi Minh City recorded the Business Performance Index (BPI) at 5.67, significantly above the national median of 4.2.

Hanoi ranked second with 5.51 points, followed by Quang Ninh Province with 5.33.

The southern metropolis currently tops the nation in the number of private enterprises, with an average of 4.33 newly established businesses and 23.75 active enterprises per 1,000 residents.

Businesses in the city also show the highest level of participation in foreign supply chains nationwide.

The BPI evaluates private economic performance through 23 indicators measuring the development of the private sector and corporate innovation capacity.

Speaking at the event, VCCI chairman Ho Sy Hung said Vietnam’s private sector has moved beyond a defensive stage and is accumulating internal strength for a breakthrough, provided bottlenecks related to markets, capital access, and policy transparency are effectively addressed within the next 12-18 months.

He noted that the PCI and BPI would help provide deeper measurements of governance quality and the capacity of local authorities to foster economic development in the next stage.

Hung also stressed that to achieve the national target of two million enterprises by 2030, investment and business policies need to shift from a management-oriented mindset to one focused on supporting businesses and enhancing competitiveness rather than merely reducing administrative burdens.

Four major bottlenecks

At the end of 2025, Vietnam had more than one million active enterprises, up 6.6 percent from 2024, along with some 6.1 million household businesses.

The private sector currently employs 26 million workers, accounting for 50.2 percent of the total employment nationwide.

However, the report pinpointed four major bottlenecks facing the private sector.

Market access remained a key challenge, with 60.2 percent of the businesses surveyed reporting difficulties in finding customers.

Access to finance is another major obstacle, as 75.5 percent of the enterprises said they could not secure loans without collateral.

Policy transparency and predictability also remained limited, with only 6-8 percent of the businesses able to anticipate policy changes.

In addition, 26 percent of them reported incurring informal costs when applying for business licenses.

Top provinces in competitiveness

Under the PCI 2025 rankings, the five provinces and cities with the strongest provincial competitiveness were Bac Ninh, Da Nang, Hai Phong, Phu Tho, and Quang Ninh.

These localities shared a balanced governance structure, with at least five out of nine component indices ranking among the country’s top 10.