Viet Nam-promising country for FDI: WB economist

Viet Nam has positive prospects and is a very promising country for foreign direct investment (FDI), said Dorsati Madani, Senior Economist at the World Bank (WB) Viet Nam.

In its January 2024 edition of the "Global Economic Prospects" report, the WB predicted Viet Nam's GDP growth could reach 5.5 percent in 2024, 6 percent in 2025, and 6.5 percent in 2026.

"Our projection is based on looking at the three major drivers of growth in the economy, including exports, investment, and domestic consumption," explained Dorsati Madani.

Figures of the General Statistics Office showed that exports performed particularly well, with an estimated value of US$93.06 billion, reflecting a 17 percent year-on-year growth.

She explained that the U.S. market is a major consumer of Vietnamese exports and the projection of growth for that market has increased to 2.3 percent so that is a very good sign of a moderate recovery of exports.

If the U.S. growth or the eurozone growth is stronger than expected, there is a possibility that growth in Viet Nam will also pick up further, she continued.

According to the WB economist, the key economic drivers for Viet Nam in the upcoming months of the year will be exports.

"We hopefully will see both domestic consumption and private investment to strengthen and firm up in next months. So the recovery going forward is positive," she shared.

In addition, FDI inflows have been very solid and pretty steady, even during the COVID-19 pandemic period. So those are very promising signs for the economy, said Dorsati Madani.

Viet Nam lured close to US$6.17 billion in FDI from the beginning of this year to March 20, up 13.4 percent year-on-year.

She recommended Viet Nam's authorities focus on ensuring that the economy becomes greener, and pour more investment in information and communications, technology (ICT), digital economies, hardcore, baseline infrastructure, electricity, and transport port services, adding that will facilitate and continue to keep Viet Nam competitive for its exports and for its production.

Regarding the Vietnamese Government's efforts to speed up disbursement of public investment, the WB economist said, the government is trying to accelerate the disbursement of public investment capital and it is the right thing.

If the public investment capital is pushed out into the economy, it supports aggregate demand, and helps the economy recover, she noted, adding that for the longer term, it is really important, because Viet Nam needs to invest much more in backbone services and industries, such as electricity, roads, transport, and logistics.