Viet Nam is likely the top-performing Asian economy in 2020 — a feat that was achieved without a single quarter of economic contraction at a time when many economies globally were weighed down by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Vietnamese economy grew 2.9% last year from a year ago, according to government estimates released in late December. That’s better than China’s forecast-beating 2.3% growth during the same period.

“With this performance, Viet Nam has delivered one of the highest growth (rates) in a year where the rest of the world were in deep recessions,” economists from Bank of America Global Research said in a report this month.

Some economists have over the past years questioned the veracity of Viet Nam’s gross domestic product (GDP) data. Nevertheless, many economists appeared to be optimistic that the country’s economic growth will accelerate this year.  

Despite neighboring China — where Covid-19 was first detected — Viet Nam has reported just over 1,500 infections and 35 deaths as of Tuesday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The country’s handling of the virus outbreak was internationally hailed as a model for other developing nations to follow, and helped its economy to continue growing throughout 2020./.