Vietnam – a bright spot among emerging markets

Vietnam is considered a bright spot among emerging markets together with Hungary, Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic with its high and stable growth rate, according a recent article posted in the UK’s Financial Times.

The article said the Southeast Asian nation’s 2014 economic growth was well above its average growth for the five years prior. From 2008-2014, Vietnam’s economy increased by nearly 40 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), doubling Poland’s rate. Meanwhile, Romani, the Czech Republic and Hungary saw no rise during the period.

The article cited market forecasts of Consensus Economics as saying that Vietnam’s economy could reach a growth rate of 6.1 percent in 2015 and 6.2 percent in 2016.

The Vietnamese Government had previously set a growth target of 6.2 percent for this year, but Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung acknowledged in June that the figure could increase to 6.4 percent.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecast Vietnam’s economic growth in 2015 will be 6.5 percent and 6.6 percent in 2016, respectively.

The country’s economic growth could reach 6.5 percent in 2015 and around 7 percent in 2016 during an interview with the Financial Times, Chief Executive of Dragon Capital Dominic Scriven told the newspaper.

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector earned over 72.35 billion USD from exports in the first eight months of this year, accounting for 67.9 percent of the total export turnover.

However, the article pointed out risks the market is facing such as its loose monetary policy, inflation and the nation’s banking system bad debt ratio reaching up to 15 percent of GDP.-VNA