Vietnam: Not For The Faint Of Heart

FRONTIER MARKETS REPORT
​Vietnam has great potential, but it also has significant hurdles to overcome to improve its business climate for foreign investors. Given the government’s dominance of industries such as agriculture, utilities and banking, those looking to invest must be prepared for the challenge.

 
 
Source
Central bank

State Bank of Vietnam

International Reserves

USD 55.5 billion (2018)

World Bank, data retrieved October 2019

Source
Gross Domestic Product - GDP

USD 241.3 billion (2018, estimate)

GDP (Purchasing Power Parity)

Intl$ 710.3 billion (2018, estimate)

Real GDP growth
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
7.1% 5.7% 5.4% 6.4% 6.2% 5.2% 5.4%
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018*    
6% 6.7% 6.2% 6.8% 7.1%    

*Estimate

GDP per capita - current prices

USD 2,551.1 (2018, estimate)

GDP per capita - PPP

Intl$ 7,510.5 (2018, estimate)

GDP (PPP) - share of world total
1980 1990 2000 2010 2019*
0.18% 0.24% 0.33% 0.44% 0.54%

*Estimate

 
 
Source
GDP - composition by sector
  • agriculture: 14.6% 
  • industry: 34.3% 
  • services: 41.2%

(2018 estimate)

Gross domestic expenditure on R&D; (% of GDP)

N/A

Inflation
2015 2016 2017 2018* 2019*
0.6% 2.7% 3.5% 3.5% 3.6%

*Estimate

Unemployment rate
2015 2016 2017 2018* 2019*
2.3% 2.3% 2.2% 2.2% 2.2%

*Estimate

Household saving rates

N/A

 

Public debt (General government gross debt as a % of GDP)
2015 2016 2017* 2018* 2019*
 57.1% 59.7% 58.2% 55.6% 54.3%

*Estimate

Public deficit (General government net lending/borrowing as a % of GDP)
2015 2016 2017* 2018* 2019*
-6.4% -3.9% -4.7% -4.4% -4.4%

*Estimate   

Government bond ratings

Standard & Poor's: BB

Moody's: Ba3

Standard & Poor's / Moody's 

Market value of publicly traded shares
2016 2017 2018
USD 73.2 billion USD 125.3 billion USD 132.7 billion
Largest companies

Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, Commercial Bank For Investment & Development Of Vietnam, Vingroup, Vietin Bank

 
 
Source
Current account balance

USD 5.8 billion (2018 estimate)

Current account balance by percentage of GDP

2.4 % (2018 estimate)

Exports as percent of GDP (Exports of goods and services)

95.4% (2018)

Shares in world total merchandising export

1.26% (2018)

Shares in world total commercial services export

0.26% (2018)

Total exports

USD 259.8 billion (2018 estimate)

Export commodities

Clothes, shoes, electronics, seafood, crude oil, rice, coffee, wooden products, machinery

Total imports

USD 251.4 billion (2018 estimate)

 
 
Source
Import commodities

Machinery and equipment, petroleum products, steel products, raw materials for the clothing and shoe industries, electronics, plastics, automobiles

Exports - major partners

US 20.1%, China 14.5%, Japan 8%, South Korea 6.8% (2017)

Imports - major partners

China 25.8%, South Korea 20.5%, Japan 7.8%, Thailand 4.9% (2017)

FDI inflows
2016 2017 2018
USD 12,600 million USD 14,100 million

USD 15,500 million

FDI outflows
2016 2017 2018
USD 1,000 million USD 480 million USD 598 million
Value of cross-border M&A, by country of purchaser
2015 2016 2017 2018
USD -1.6 million USD 49.5 million USD 26.7 million USD 69.1 million
Cross-border M&A deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2014

N/A

(for a monthly update on M&A; click here )

Cross-border M&A deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2015

N/A

(for a monthly update on M&A; click here )

Best countries for doing business

Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm.

Overall ranking:

70 out of 190 countries

​Subcategories:
Starting a Business: 115 out of 190 countries
Dealing with Construction Permits: 25 out of 190 countries
Getting Electricity: 27 out of 190 countries
Registering Property: 64 out of 190 countries
Getting Credit: 25 out of 190 countries
Protecting Minority Investors: 97 out of 190 countries
Paying Taxes: 109 out of 190 countries
Trading across Borders: 104 out of 190 countries
Enforcing Contracts: 68 out of 190 countries
Resolving Insolvency: 122 out of 190 countries

Global competitiveness ranking

67 out of 141 countries

(2019)

Index of Economic Freedom

Ranking: 128 / Score: 55.3 (Mostly unfree)

(100=totally free 0=totally repressed)

 
 
Source
Time zone

UTC+7

Total area

 331,210 sq km

Capital

Hanoi (Ha Noi)

Currency

Dong (VND)

Government type

Communist state

Languages

Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer, mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)

Religions

Buddhist 7.9%, Catholic 6.6%, Hoa Hao 1.7%, Cao Dai 0.9%, Protestant 0.9%, Muslim 0.1%, none 81.8% (2009 est.)

Total population
1990 2000 2010 2015 2020*
66.02 million 77.64 million 86.93 million 91.71 million 96.41 million

*Estimate  

 
 
Source
Urban population as % of total population
1960 1980 2000 2018
14.7% 19.2% 24.4% 35.9%
Population median age

30.9 years 

Population growth rate

0.9% (2018 estimate)

Life expectancy

73.9 years (2018 estimate)

Literacy

Total population: 94.5% 
Male: 96.3% 
Female: 92.8%
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2015 est.)

% of population living on less than $3.10 a day

8.4% (last available estimate, 2016)

Inequality of wealth distribution (Gini index)

35.3 (last available estimate, 2016)

(0=perfect equality, 100=absolute inequality)

Freedom House rating

Not Free
Political Rights: 7
Civil Liberties: 5 (2019)
(1 represents the most free, 7 the least free rating)

Source
Total telephone subscribers as % of population

Fixed: 15%

Mobile: 147.2%

(2018)

(fixed-telephone subscribers and mobile-cellular subscribers)

Internet users as % of total population

70.35 % (2018)

Mercer Cost of living index

Hanoi: 112th
Ho Chi Minh City: 120th

(2019)

CO2 emissions

1.82 metric tons per capita (2014)

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