Firms are increasingly confident about the year-ahead outlook.

While the Vietnamese economy remains one of the better performers globally, there are significant headwinds that could prevent a return to the stellar growth rates seen pre-pandemic in the near-term at least.

The Vietnamese manufacturing sector ended the year 2020 in growth territory as business conditions improved following disruptions caused by a succession of storms in November, with output, new orders and employment all increasing in December,

The Vietnam Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) dipped fractionally below the 50.0 no-change mark to 49.9 last month, signalling broadly unchanged business conditions during the month.

Despite a drop in output in July, firms remained confident in the 12-month outlook for production.

Vietnam's manufacturing sector still felt the effects of COVID-19 in May, although contraction was softer than in April as the virus was brought under control.

The sector saw a softer contraction than in April as the Covid-19 pandemic was brought under control in Vietnam.

The Vietnam Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell sharply to 41.9 in March from 49.0 in February, a survey by IHS Markit and Nikkei released on April 1 showed.

The Vietnam Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell below the 50.0 no-change mark in February, signalling a deterioration in business conditions, a survey of IHS Markit and Nikkei released on Monday showed.