HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam's stock market is expected to maintainits growth momentum of last year at 15-20 percent based on positive supportingfactors, experts have said.

Speaking at a seminar on opportunities and challenges for the stock market in2021 held recently in Ho Chi Minh City, Can Van Luc, chief economist of theBank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, said “Vietnam has successfullyimplemented the dual goal of containing the COVID-19 pandemic and reviving theeconomy.

“With its economic recovery momentum, most organisations forecast that Vietnam’seconomic growth is likely to surge to 6.5‐7 percent in 2021. And at the sametime, we can control inflation well at below 4 percent.”

In this context, domestic and foreign investment flows to the country will bestronger than those of last year, he said.

The number of new trading accounts opened more than doubled last year, drivenby the desire of local investors to achieve higher returns as the interestrates paid on their bank deposit accounts plunged. And the momentum willcontinue this year, he added.

Dr Vo Tri Thanh, director of the Central Institute for Economic Management,said that production and trading activities have been maintained and exportgrowth has recovered quickly, while the new generation of free trade agreementswill also increase export and investment cooperation.

This will help promote the stock market in 2021 and the years to come, he said.

Dang Duc Thanh, chairman of the Economists Club, said: “With the Government'spromotion of public investment, policies to attract FDI investment, maintenanceof low interest rates, adjustment of economic stimulus packages, and effectivecontrol of COVID-19, it has made an important contribution to boost the stockmarket’s growth."

The VN-Index surpassed 1,200 points on March 18, creating optimism amonginvestors, he said.

Dr. Nguyen Son, chairman of the State Securities Commission’s Vietnam SecurityDepository, said that: “Having vaccines to prevent COVID-19 and the trend ofshifting international capital flows from the banking sector (which yields lowinterest rates) to other investment channels such as stock and valuable assetssuch as gold and real estate will help the global stock market in general and Vietnam'sstock market, in 2021.

“Vietnam continues to be evaluated as a bright spot for regional investment byinternational organisations as it is one of the few countries that haseffectively controlled COVID-19 and achieved positive growth in 2020,” he said.

He said the VN-Index would increase by hundreds of points this year.

Despite many opportunities, the stock market in 2021 still faces risks, notablythe unpredictable development of COVID-19, an increase in trade defenceglobally, risks involved in inflation and exchange rates, and diversion ofinvestment flows to other areas, they said.

Son also mentioned problems faced by the Vietnamese stock market, such as theslow process of equitisation of State-owned enterprises and divestment of Statecapital in equitised enterprises. Moreover, the upgrading of the market fromfrontier to emerging status still faces obstacles and the current IT system hasnot met the fast development of the securities market.

To enable the market to develop in a sustainable manner, the securities sectorwill focus on putting new regulations and policies in the Law on Securitiesinto practice to support businesses and protect the legitimate rights andinterests of investors, he said.

It will also map out a Stock Market Development Strategy for the 2021-30 periodto shape goals, solutions and a roadmap for the development of the stock andcapital market in the long run, he said.

In addition, the sector will enhance the modernisation of informationtechnology systems and administrative procedure reform, launch new products,restructure the security market, and speed up equitisation and divestment ofState capital in State-own enterprises and the listing of these firms on thestock exchange to increase market liquidity and supply, he said.

At the seminar, which was held by the Economists Club, Ho Chi Minh SecuritiesCorporation (HSC) and Green Plus Joint Stock Corporation, Green Plus signed acooperation agreement with Japan’s Sato Yakuhin Kogyo, HSC, and Vietcombank’sBinh Tay branch./.