Vietnam maintains impressive growth despite global gloomy outlook

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Vietnamese gross domestic product (GDP) is forecast to grow by 7% this year, and this growth can be considered a miracle in the context that one third of the world economies is predicted to experience contraction.

Currently, Vietnamese GDP growth also leads the ASEAN five group that makes up Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Davide Furceri, economist for the IMF, emphasised that the country continues to be a bright spot in the region moving into the post-pandemic recovery period thanks to its flexible monetary policy, timely fiscal support, and rising demand in the international market in the first half of the year.

Era Dabla-Norris, mission chief of Vietnam and assistant director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, described the growth trend of the Vietnamese economy as positive amid facing escalating crises of energy, food, and inflation in the world. 

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal of the United States has published an article, noting that Vietnam is out of step with the rest of Asia in terms of growth, dollar reserves, and monetary policy.

The newswire’s experts stressed that Vietnam has maintained a series of impressive growth indicators amid global concerns including an economic recession, inflation, and rising prices, along with other major uncertainties.

Fitch Ratings, one of the three major international credit rating agencies, highlighted the country as a place boasting strong medium-term growth prospects, low government debt, and an favourable external debt profile.

The financial institution expressed its optimistic view that Vietnamese GDP growth would rise by 7.4% this year, largely thanks to the development of industry, construction, and services. It also noted that foreign direct investment (FDI) continues to be the driving force for strong Vietnamese growth In the medium and long term.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency Moody's anticipated that the Vietnamese economy would expand 8.5% this year. In September, Moody’s also upgraded the country’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings to Ba2 from Ba3, changing the outlook to stable from positive.

Vietnam makes up the only country in the Asia-Pacific region and is only one of four places in the world to have ratings upgraded by Moody’s since the beginning of the year. This shows that the local economy boasts many strengths and has a great resilience to external macroeconomic shocks which is indicative of improved policy effectiveness.