Viet Nam stretches over 1,650 km along the Eastern Sea from China in the north, bordering Lao PDR and Cambodia, to the Gulf of Thailand in the south. Since the process of Doi Moi (Renovation) launched in 1986, the country has seen enormous economic growth, averaging over 5.5% per year, placing Viet Nam second only to China. In the two decades since the millennium, over 45 million Vietnamese were lifted out of poverty and GDP per capita increased 250%. Figures from Goldman Sachs show the Vietnamese economy becoming the 21st largest in the world by 2025, with a GDP per capital of US$ 4,357, nearly double that of 2019. Traditionally reliant upon agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining, the Vietnamese economy has modernised and diversified considerably and manufacturing has become the largest sector. According to the General Statistics Office of Viet Nam, the manufacturing and processing industry drove economic growth in 2019 with production volume increasing 11.29% from the year before. Viet Nam is also currently the thirdlargest oil producer in South East Asia. Despite COVID-19, Vietnam’s economy has remained resilient, expanding by 2.9% in 2020 - one of the highest growth rates in the world, according to figures from the IMF in March 2021. Growth is expected to accelerate to 6.5% in 2021, partly in response to the Vietnamese government’s containment of the pandemic, and government support but also due to strong economic fundamentals, benefitting in part from large increases in manufacturing output, fuelled by the trade war between the USA and China, and increased Chinese production costs.
Source: ASEAN Access