Vietnam's economy is forecast to expand 6.7% this year, the same pace as in 2015, making it among the fastest-growing markets in the world, according to Bloomberg.
The newswire stated that while the world's largest emerging economies including Russia, Brazil and China may falter, Vietnam will record a steady economic growth at near 7% this year.
"People in Vietnam are becoming more optimistic about the future. In both the regional and global landscapes, it's set to outperform", said Trinh Nguyen, a Hong-Kong based senior economist for emerging Asia at Natixis SA.
Economists at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. led by Eugenia Victorino said in a report this month that "Vietnam is positioned to have another stellar year in 2016", adding that the central bank's recent efforts to make the exchange rate more flexible will also strengthen macro-economic stability and help ease pressure on reserves.
Eugenia Victorino noted that Vietnam's stock market has also successfully attracted a large number of foreign investors with overseas investor net buyers for the 10th consecutive year in 2015 in addition to a rise of 17.4% in the disbursement of foreign direct investment to a record-high of US$14.5 billion in 2015 from 2014.
"In 2016 and 2017, we definitely believe that Vietnam is positioned to be one of the fastest growth stories," said Victorino, stating that "what could derail Vietnam's fast growth story is if trade deficit widens due to much faster import growth from consumption-related items such as automobiles."
Vietnam's draft socio-economic plan for 2016 to 2020 indicates the country will target as much as 7% average annual growth, below 5% inflation and around 4% of GDP in budget deficit.
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