Standard Chartered revises down Vietnam growth forecast

Tim Leelahaphan, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank, said the country has consistently been one of the world's best performing economies during the pandemic, "however, Standard Chartered is still watching the impacts of the Covid-19 situation in Vietnam."

The bank said that widespread vaccination is an important condition for the resumption of the country’s international tourism, thus boosting the sustainable economic revival. Vietnam has already rolled out its Covid-19 vaccination campaign since March 8. It has inoculated around one million people, mostly frontline healthcare workers.

It forecast that average inflation this year will reach 3.8 percent owing to rapid economic growth and rising global food prices.

Previously, HSBC had revised downward its estimate for Vietnam’s GDP growth this year from 7 percent to 6.6 percent.

The government has set a growth target of 6.5 percent.