Photo for illustration. (Source: cafef.vn)

The English language news media outfit has ran an article about Vietnam. It recognized that Vietnam is set to be one of the few countries globally to record positive economic growth this year, despite the global collapse in trade, travel, and investment caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“Vietnam’s economy is also less dependent than other Southeast Asian nations on tourism, which accounted for 9% of its GDP in 2018, compared with 32% for Cambodia and 20% for Thailand. It has thus faced less pressure due to the collapse of international travel,” said Asia Times.

The country also went into the year on the back of two years of robust foreign direct investment flows. Most notably, June saw the nation ratify the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and recently play host to a signing ceremony for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest, Asia-centric trade deal which the country is now a member.

The article outlines how in a new report released by the IMF it is claimed that Hanoi’s “decisive steps to contain the health and economic fallout from COVID-19” were primary factors in recording positive economic growth this year, a recognition of the Communist Party’s quick and competent response.

The IMF therefore expect that this recovery will carry over strongly into 2021 with growth of 6.5% as normalization of domestic and foreign economic activity continues.

During the first nine months of the year, the country registered USD21.2 billion in new foreign investment projects and overseas capital injections, equivalent to around 80% of the investment it received during the same period last year.

Many of the investments made this year won’t begin operation until 2021 or later, which also points to a healthy economic recovery in the coming time./.

BTA