Its strength in containing the pandemic saw it build on the foundations of two free trade agreements signed in 2020, also outpacing peers in luring manufacturers moving production out of China because of the Beijing-Washington trade war.
Vietnam was one of the world’s few countries to record growth last year – well down on 2019, but still a 2.9% expansion.
Vietnam watchers expect the country to ride high as long as it keeps the virus – resurgent in many countries – at bay. Thanks to rigorously targeted testing, a centralised quarantine programme and early border closures, Vietnam’s coronavirus tally stands at just over 1,500 cases and 35 deaths to date – far fewer than any comparable country given its population of nearly 98mn.
“The successful management of the pandemic to date has already enabled the country to capture a larger share of global trade and FDI (foreign direct investment) during 2020,” said Carolyn Turk, the World Bank’s country director in Vietnam.
Parliament has set an economic growth target of 6% for this year, but Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, looking to extend his term or rise up the Communist Party of Vietnam’s ranks, said last month that Vietnam would target 6.5%.
At WHA Group, a Thai logistics firm which has expanded its industrial estate business in Vietnam, chairwoman Jareeporn Jarukornsakul said investors who had wanted to relocate operations to Thailand from China had not been able to do so because the coronavirus had spread in Thailand.
While infrastructure and regulatory issues are worse in Vietnam than in Thailand, she said, “Costs are cheap in Vietnam and its government is very quick with investment, allowing provinces to issue their own regulations and investment incentives.” Still, there is much work to be done, even if the country does retain its prowess in handling the coronavirus: Vietnam suffers from a lack of highly-skilled labour, its dated bureaucracy is in need of digitisation and there is an over-reliance on polluting coal imports to fuel development.
