Vietnam on track to become 20th biggest economy in 2050

By VnExpress February 6, 2017 | 07:44 pm PT

A Vietnamese worker at a plastic bag factory. Photo by Nguyen Bach Thao/VnExpress Photo Contest

The country is expected to have the world’s greatest improvement in the coming decades, says PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The world is going to see significant shifts in economic order over the next few decades, with Vietnam poised to make the biggest improvement of all, according to a new report by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Vietnam could jump from its current 32nd position to 29th in 2030 and to 20th in 2050, when its gross domestic product (PPP or purchasing power parity based) is expected to expand six folds from now to $3,176 billion, according to the report released Monday. PPP estimates of GDP adjust for price level differences across countries.

The Philippines is expected to see the second best improvement, followed by Nigeria.

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Vietnam, the Philippines and Nigeria are expected to make the greatest strides by 2050. Graphics by PwC

But Vietnam will not be the only success story from Southeast Asia. The report projects a remarkable rise of Indonesia to the world’s fourth biggest economy, only after China, India and the U.S. It is now the eighth biggest economy.

Dinh Thi Quynh Van, general director of PwC Vietnam, said in a previous report in 2015 that Vietnam was only expected to reach 22nd in 2050, but now it is forecast to crack the top 20.

Big political events such as Brexit or the U.S. presidential election are likely to bring many economic changes, she said in a statement.

If Vietnam wants to succeed in this new environment, it needs to build growth on reforms and better education.

Vietnam’s economy currently depends on exports and given the global economic slowdown, it needs to diversify what it can offer and to create opportunities from more economic sectors, she said.

The economy expanded 6.2 percent in 2016. Early this year, the World Bank said that Vietnam’s economy would expand at an average of 6.3 percent in the next three years, with all categories of demand buoyed by strong foreign direct investment and manufacturing exports.