German paper lauds Vietnam’s economic prospects

He said Vietnam overcame the COVID-19 crisis impressively, which was one of the best conditions to put its economy back to growth. The country has so far recorded about 350 infections out of a 97 million population and zero death.

As Vietnam shares a borderline with China, its Government has taken precautionary measures since the beginning of this year when there was not any infection case. When the first infection was found, Vietnam promptly took experience from acute respiratory illness SARS treatment to ward off the pandemic. Schools were shut down, infected areas were isolated and air routes were closed.

Thanks to the partial lockdown in a short duration, factories meeting hygiene requirements still operated. However, several sectors were also hit, including tourism with tourist arrivals slumping by about 40 percent in the first four months of this year compared to the same period 2019.

The article cited JP Morgan bank’s forecast as saying that the Vietnamese economy is expected to grow by nearly 3.2 percent this year before reaching 7.1 percent next year. It is similar to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s prediction for around 7 percent growth in 2021.

The author also hailed the medium and long-term prospects of the Vietnamese economy, partly thanks to foreign direct investment (FDI). Since the Republic of Korea’s Samsung Electronics opened the first smart mobile phone factory in Vietnam in 2014, the Southeast Asian nation has witnessed a stable flow of FDI.

Meanwhile, multinational technological giants like Apple are also planning to move to Vietnam, not to mention driving forces for the economy from the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the European Union, its second largest importer, behind the US, he said./.