(VOVWORLD) - Thanks to its success in containing the COVID-19 pandemic and maintaining economic growth in 2020, Vietnam is seen by foreign investors as a safe destination for investment in 2021 and beyond.
Vietnam was successful in controlling COVID-19 in 2020 and is likely to keep the situation under control this year, said Joseph Incalcaterra, chief economist for ASEAN at HSBC Global Research, in an article recently posted by www.dailymirror.uk.
Incalcaterra said Vietnam and Singapore are two Southeast Asian countries that will be able to keep the pandemic under control and smoothly roll out vaccines. He said Vietnam’s response to the pandemic allowed it to maintain its reputation as a “very good destination” for foreign direct investment. Vietnam is now seen as an alternative manufacturing hub for companies, given that FDI in Vietnam proved resilient last year.
With the third most vibrant startup ecosystem in Southeast Asia, Vietnam is an attractive place for investment, according to Sergey Sinitsyn of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
In the past four years, Vietnam’s innovation and startup ecosystem has developed to a level significant for the whole region, according to Sinitsyn. Vietnam has become a hub for innovation projects in Asia-Pacific, he said, adding that the most attractive sectors are finance, education, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technology.
Financial website wealthbriefingasia.com published an article outlining the views of several asset management figures in the UK on investment prospects in Vietnam. According to the article, with half of its population under the age of 35 and a rapidly growing middle class, Vietnam is one of the most dynamic frontier economies, and has not suffered as dramatically from COVID-19 as other nations. The article quoted Khanh Vu, co-manager of the VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund, as saying that the main attraction of investing in Vietnam is that Vietnam is following in the footsteps of other “Asian Tigers” that came before it, such as Japan and the Republic of Korea.
Emily Fletcher, portfolio manager of BlackRock Frontiers, said Vietnam is a poster child for frontier markets, having experienced strong economic and social development over the previous two decades.
Craig Martin, manager of Vietnam Holding, said that Vietnamese GDP per capita is expected to reach 5,000 USD by 2025, and by 2035 there could be a further 35 million middle-income consumers nationwide.