Vietnam among the few economies to have positive growth in 2020: IMF

According to IMF, Vietnam’s GDP is forecast to expand 1.6% in 2020 and make a breakthrough growth of 6.7% in 2021.

Vietnam is the only economy in the ASEAN-5 group, which includes Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, that will maintain positive growth in a year in which the COVID-19 pandemic has been raging, exacerbating problems from the trade war between the US and China.

Meanwhile, the Philippines is predicted to suffer the worst GDP decline among the ASEAN-5 group with a negative growth of -8.3% in 2020. Thailand will come in second with a negative growth of -7.1% while Malaysia and Indonesia will have a growth of -6.0% and -1.5%.

In Asia, China will maintain a positive growth of 1.6% while India is forecast to have its GDP down by 10.3%.

Other emerging and developing economies in Asia will also suffer an average drop of 2.2% while China’s Macau will see a plunge of 52.3%.

Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Australiahave recorded GDP declines of 5.3%, 1.9%, 6% and 4.2%, respectively.

Despite negative figures, Asian region is still brighter than the rest of the world. All economies in the Americas are forecast to have negative growth in 2020. GDP declines are also forecast to cover European economies including leading players such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and others.

The COVID-19 pandemic is considered to be the main cause of the decline in the global GDP outlook in 2020. However, most economies are expected to return to growth in 2021 although the growth in many countries will not make up for the losses in 2020, according to IMF.