Vietnam - a growth bright spot in Asia-Pacific: Thai news site

Thailand’s news site thaipublica.org has recently published an article describing Vietnam as a growth bright spot in Asia-Pacific and an attractive destination to Thai investors.

The article cited the latest “Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and Pacific” report released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on October 28 as saying that Vietnam's GDP growth is expected to increase to 7% this year.

Vietnam’s positive outlook contrasts with a slowdown trend in other parts of Asia, as a result of weaker inflation which is also different from the overall picture in this region, it wrote, adding that a report released by the World Bank also affirmed that controlling inflation has helped Vietnam maintain its macroeconomic stability amid a complex global economic situation.

According to the article, the State Bank of Vietnam's monetary policy is still quite effective, as inflation in Vietnam remains at a lower level than in many countries.

It quoted Francois Painchaud, the IMF's chief representative in Vietnam as saying that the country’s growth outlook remains positive, and Vietnam remains a strong country in the future.

The IMF report said these achievements came from the country's strategy of living with the coronavirus and vaccination coverage across the country. A series of effective policies, such as strong credit growth, low interest rate and government programmes for socio-economic recovery and development have accelerated strong productivity and a recovery of retail and tourism activities.

One of the driving forces for Vietnam's economic growth is the surging foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow, which shows the confidence of foreign investors in the Vietnamese economy.

The article stressed that the Vietnamese market has been an interesting market for Thai investors for over a decade. All leading Thai conglomerates have entered Vietnam with increasing investment each year. Thai investors are interested in doing business in Vietnam in various sectors such as animal feed and agriculture, renewable energy, packaging, retail and distribution, petrochemical, food processing, plastic products and energy drinks.

Thailand is currently the ninth largest investor among 140 countries and territories pouring capital into Vietnam with a total capital of more than 13 billion USD. In terms of trade, Thailand is Vietnam's largest trading partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with a total turnover of 19.5 billion USD in 2021 and 10.6 billion USD in the first half of this year.