Vietnam – a Success Story about Development: Int’l Experts, Organisations

Between 2002 and 2021, per capita GDP increased 3.6 times, reaching almost $3,700. Photo: VNA

Assistant Deputy Minister at Global Affairs of Canada Paul Thoppil expressed his admiration for Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements over the past 77 years, according to VietnamPlus.

In the latest report in April 2022, the World Bank called Vietnam a development success story that transformed into a lower middle-income country in one generation from its humble beginning as one of the poorest nations globally.

Between 2002 and 2021, per capita GDP increased 3.6 times, reaching almost $3,700. Poverty rates ($1.9 per day) declined sharply from over 32% in 2011 to below 2%.

Thanks to its solid foundations, the economy has proven resilient through different crises, the latest being the Covid-19 pandemic. Vietnam fulfilled several economic targets in 2021, becoming one of the top 20 economies globally in terms of international trade.

WB forecast that Vietnam’s GDP growth will expand 7.5% in 2022 and 6.7% in 2023. Photo: Lao dong (Labour) Newspaper

Valeria Vershinina, an expert on Vietnam at the ASEAN Centre under the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, affirmed that Vietnam is seen as a “middle-level power” by international scholars.

Meanwhile, Canadian Ambassador to Vietnam Shawn Perry Steil regarded Vietnam as a bright example for countries worldwide to learn from experience in pandemic response while maintaining socio-economic development.

Analysts forecast that Vietnam’s economic growth this year will be high, given a record growth of 7.72% in 11 years in the second quarter which surpassed the previous prediction of 5.9%.

Harvard University’s research result showed that Vietnam is forecast to be among the fastest-growing economies in the world by 2030.

Sharing the same view, UK Secretary of State for International Trade Anne Marie Trevelyan said Vietnam will be among the world’s biggest 30 economies at the end of this decade.

Vietnam has also been recognized as one of the top 10 countries to fulfill gender equality promotion and empowerment goals for women and girls under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Vietnam has also been recognised as one of the top 10 countries to fulfill goals of gender equality promotion. Photo: VNA

With Vietnam becoming a world standard for fighting the pandemic, Acting UN Resident Coordinator and UNICEF Chief Representative in Vietnam Rana Flowers said such has proved the country’s efforts to promote and protect human rights.

Expressing impression of Vietnam’s determination to accomplish the dual goal of becoming a high-income country by 2045 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, UN Assistant Secretary General and UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Kanni Wignaraja said Vietnam will show the world its own way to ensure progress for all people.

Vietnam’s economic growth forecast at 7.5% in 2022

According to the latest economic update by WB, Vietnam’s GDP growth is forecast to expand by 7.5% in 2022 and 6.7% in 2023, with resilient manufacturing and a robust rebound in services serving as the driving forces for economic recovery. The country’s economy expanded by 5.2% in Q4 of 2021, and respectively 5.1% and 7.7% in Q1 and Q2 of 2022. Inflation is projected to average 3.8% over the year.

Vietnam’s human capital index is 0.69 out of a maximum of 1, the highest among lower-middle-income economies. Vietnam has posted a trade surplus of $3.96 billion in the first eight months of 2022, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced in late August.

Its import-export turnover is estimated at $64.34 billion in August, up 5.2% month-on-month and 17.3% year-on-year.

The figure pushed up the country’s total value during the January-August period to $497.64 billion, up 15.5% y-o-y, of which exports reached $250.8 billion, up 17.3% and imports were estimated at $246.84 billion, up 13.6%. In the reviewed period, 30 commodities reported their export value of more than 1 billion USD, with that of six surpassing the 10 billion USD benchmark./.