Experts optimistic about Vietnam's post-pandemic recovery prospect

HANOI (April 30): Experts forecast a positive prospect for the Vietnamese economy after the pandemic is stamped out, according to a report by Vietnam News Agency (VNA).

“Still, Vietnam may get out of the pandemic in better shape than others. Despite the expected growth rate decreasing to 4.9 per cent in 2020, it is among the few economies in the Asia Pacific - and perhaps in the world - that still have positive growth rates,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, a senior research fellow at the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR) said.

“The Asian Development Bank (ADB), while predicting the country’s sharp decrease in GDP growth, said that the Vietnamese economy remains ‘uniquely robust’ in the sub-region. Sharply decreased oil prices - despite a greater burden on Vietnam’s strained budget - give Vietnamese policymakers room for monetary and fiscal stimulus as inflation concerns fade away,” he said.

Giang added that Vietnam’s success in curbing the pandemic might attract foreign investors, as will its traditional advantages of cheap labour, political stability, and proximity to China. Social distancing is also helping accelerate the country’s transformation to a digital economy, which is considered by the government as a pillar of sustainable growth.

Quoting Adam McCarty, Chief Economist of Mekong Economics in Hanoi, SPA said that when the Vietnamese government declares an end to local coronavirus spread, the domestic economy is likely to bounce back as far as it can without foreign tourists.

“The domestic economy could revive and all the masks could come off, so that would be a big stimulus and that could happen in less than a month from now,” he said.

According to the website www.voanews.com, Vietnamese officials are preparing for a limited economic revival as their coronavirus caseload stays low.

The government is rolling out incentives now to revive companies including export manufacturers, a backbone of the economy. Factories are still operating on local labor, and export growth from January 1 through March 15 grew 6.8 percent over the same period of 2019, it noted.

German enterprises were also optimistic about the medium-term recovery of the Vietnamese economy, according to the AHK World Business Outlook 2020 released recently by the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK).

Stay calm. Stay at home. Keep updated on the latest news at www.EdgeProp.my #stayathome #flattenthecurve