German newswire: Vietnam upbeat about economic recovery
Berlin (VNA) – Germany’s DW newswire recently ran an article saying that
Vietnam still aims for an economic growth of 5 percent this year despite global
economic crisis and likely recession in some of its neighbouring countries.
It said the ambitious goal was announced by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen
Xuan Phuc during a recent online conference with thousands of local and foreign
business representatives taking part.
The target is significantly higher than the prediction of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), which announced that it is expecting Vietnam's gross
domestic product (GDP) to grow 2.7 percent. Even that prediction puts Vietnam
ahead of its neighbours and ensures that the country will continue to be
Southeast Asia's fastest growing economy. The forecast growth rate, however, is
in stark contrast with the 7 percent expansion of 2019.
By May 23, Vietnam had recorded 324 COVID-19 infections and zero death. The
country hasn't seen new communuity infections in weeks. All recent infections
have been imported cases of Vietnamese who were repatriated from countries that
suffer from much severe outbreaks of the virus.
Experts believe that Vietnam was able to contain the virus because it acted
quickly and decisively. The country decided to close schools, shut down borders
and suspend international travel much earlier than other nations. It also set
up quarantine camps, where tens of thousands of travellers arriving from
overseas were quarantined for 14 days.
Vietnam receives praise from all over the world for how it has handled the
outbreak. With the economy restarting, the country hopes to use this newly
gained trust to attract more foreign investors and businesses, it said.
Adam McCarty, the chief economist of research and consultancy firm Mekong
Economics, said Vietnam has shown the world that it can manage a complex threat
as the coronavirus health crisis.
"They're showing that they can handle it much better than most European
countries and the US. That's a signal to foreign investors and to foreign
governments", he said./.