Vietnam’s first half growth demonstrates the underlying strength of the economy, which will provide a platform for the country's growth once its new COVID-19 outbreaks are contained, said Stanley Chou, Chair of the Vietnam Enterprise Investments Limited (VEIL).

Loading and unloading rice for export at Saigon port. (Source: VNA)

Vietnam’s first half growth demonstrates the underlying strength of the economy, which will provide a platform for the country's growth once its new COVID-19 outbreaks are contained, said Stanley Chou, Chair of the Vietnam Enterprise Investments Limited (VEIL).

Chou said in his statement issued on September 8 that the economy remained resilient in the first half of 2021, posting GDP growth of 5.6 percent, despite being negatively affected by two new waves of the virus.

The statement said the key driver in Vietnam's economic performance for the first six months was manufacturing, which expanded by 8.4 percent on-year. This was reflected in robust trade numbers, in which exports increased by 28.5 percent to 158 billion USD and imports increased by 36.3 percent to 159 billion USD. Increased imports supported production and much of the surge came from inventory restocking. The resulting trade deficit was 1.5 billion USD and is widely expected to be reversed in the second half of 2021.

According to VEIL, the Vietnamese stock market was among the top performing indices in the world in the first half of 2021 and hit an all-time record high of above 1,400 points in June 2021.

Against such backdrop, VEIL rose strongly by 42.1 percent in the period and is ahead of its reference index, VN-Index, by 13.3 percent.

Chou stated VEIL believes that in the long-term, Vietnam still offers one of the strongest structural growth outlooks among developing markets, led by industrialisation and urbanisation./.