Vietnam remains attractive for investment in 2019: insider

He said Vietnam’s stock market will be encouraged by a slight earning per share growth rate of 10 – 12 percent in 2019. However, this rate is still lower than in previous years, so the market is unlikely to grow strongly this year.

He forecast a bright prospect for the country’s economy in 2019 with positive foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow as manufacturers will come to Vietnam to supply products to mobile phone producer Samsung or car maker Vinfast and avoid the trade war’s impact.

The economy is likely to gain a trade surplus as exports are predicted to increase more sharply than imports. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese dong will stay stable as the central bank has abundant forex reserves and US dollar supply and demand is not too tense thanks to trade and fiscal surplus, Ho said.

FDI capital continued to flow into the country in 2018, helping keep the Vietnamese currency stable and stimulate domestic consumption, he said, adding that data of the State Bank of Vietnam showed in the first quarter of 2018, foreign investors poured nearly 650 million USD of indirect investment through purchasing shares of or contributing capital to local businesses, rising fivefold year on year.

The VinaCapital director said Vietnam will continue to attract FDI in 2019 thanks to competitive labor costs, improved labor quality and the proximity to supply chains of regional manufacturers.

Notably, the US-China trade tension is also considered a stimulus for the redirection of the FDI inflow from China and some other markets to Vietnam, he added.