Vietnam back as ASEAN’s growth star: HSBC

The website fibre2fashion.com, citing HSBC's article titled ‘2024 - a look back at ups and downs’, reported that after a challenging first quarter, Vietnam's economic outlook has turned more positive as the recovery continued to recover throughout 2024.

Specifically, growth improved and surprised on the upside, rising to 6.9% and 7.4% in the second and third quarters, respectively. Therefore, HSBC has raised its growth forecast for the country this year to 7% from the earlier projection of 6.5% while maintaining its growth forecast for 2025 at 6.5%.

HSBC noted that the recovery in the external sector has started to broaden out beyond consumer electronics, although the domestic sector remained relatively muted despite seeing incremental improvements.

Manufacturing and trade showed resilience and continued to lead the recovery despite concerns that the impact of Typhoon Yagi would weigh on growth.

Vietnam continued to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) as fundamental prospects remain positive. Although growth in newly registered FDI moderated in the third quarter of 2024, sectors beyond manufacturing like real estate and energy saw increases in investment.

Existing investors continue to make commitments, supporting Vietnam in expanding manufacturing capabilities, according to the article.

A total of US$21.68 billion was disbursed, up by 7.1% year on year. This is the third consecutive year Vietnam's FDI disbursement has exceeded US$20 billion. Intra-ASEAN investments are leading the way, making up 40% of inflows to date.