The Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce is releasing some initial findings from its 2025 business survey.
The 2025 Business Survey is running until the end of March, and is designed to help inform the VCCI, the Government, and the public as to how the private sector is performing across all provinces.
The final results from the survey will be released in April, but the VCCI has decided to release some initial findings this week given the current economic reality faced by many businesses.
The VCCI notes that all results must be treated with caution, as the data has not been cleaned yet, and the business sample is weighed at present to certain industry sectors.
The initial findings that VCCI presented are:
For business with staff:
- 60% expect the earthquake will reduce turnover by at least 25% in the first half of 2025, with 39% saying they expect their turnover to fall by more than 50%.
- 38% of businesses said that they were currently making a loss, with 42% of these saying that this was unsustainable
For microbusinesses the findings were:
- The estimated average weekly reported income for has fallen by 58%, from VUV 41,000 to VUV 17,500
- 14% of businesses said they were earning under VUV 10,000/week before the earthquake, a figure that has jumped to 60%
- 44% of micro businesses reported being very short on money and struggling to afford the basics
VCCI President, Antoine Boudier spoke about the results – “these results show the brutal impact of December’s earthquake on the economy and many of the businesses I have spoken to over the past months whose stories match with what these initial survey results show. We stand ready with the new Government to work on all initiatives to help boost the economy and support all businesses, from the smallest micro vendors up, and across all the islands of Vanuatu.”
The VCCI are calling for four recommendations as part of the release of these initial findings:
- For the Government to accelerate plans for stimulus roll-out.
- For the Government to resolve domestic connectivity as soon as possible.
- For the Government to improve communication and transparency around town reopening, and to engage the private sector and all members of the public in planning what comes next.
- For the Government to release updated economic data.
If you still haven’t taken the survey here is the link
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