Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam has tremendous opportunities to attract foreigninvestment as global companies are seeking for a destination promising continuity, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam Carolyn Turk said during aninterview with the Vietnam News Agency.

Vietnam’s advantages in economicrecovery

Turkunderlined that Vietnam has done a tremendous job in containing the COVID-19 pandemicand the country’s performance is brilliant and at the front of the world in curbingthe spread of the SARS-CoV-2.

“Vietnamhas been free of community transmission for more than two months and that’ssuch a fantastic achievement if you look at what’s happening to the rest of theworld,” she said.

Theway in which the Vietnamese Government has contained the virus shows that theVietnamese economy has been relatively resilient, as it is still growing andmany of the economies globally could not.

TheWorld Bank forecast Vietnam's GDP to grow 2-3 percent this year, and 5-6.5percent next year.

Theway in which the government has brought COVID-19 under control is the bestpossible promotional tool for Vietnam, Turk affirmed.

Ways to maintain competitive edge

Shealso pointed out that there are some risks to the Vietnamese economy, as now itis still an unpredictable time.

AlthoughVietnam has this competitive edge right now, at a certain point thatcompetitive edge will go because other countries will open up. So the questionfor the Vietnamese Government now is how to maintain that edge in the future,the WB official said.

“Eventhough the Vietnamese economy’s relatively resilient, the situation globally isvery unpredictable at the moment. That means there’re also certain risks on thehorizon and it makes sense to manage those risks proactively as possible,” shesaid.

Accordingto the WB official, all of the sectors have suffered impacts of socialrestrictions and the slowdown in the global economy, in addition to theincrease in unemployment and the impact on small businesses where they seecontraction of their reserves.

Likemany other countries, stress on the fiscal situation could also put stress inthe future on Vietnam’s financial sector because if businesses start to haveproblems in their cash flow, they have problems in repaying loans.

Thecountry should also be concerned about poverty and social risks as well andmake sure that vulnerable population is properly protected.

Addressing bottlenecks in capitaldisbursement

Turksaid that the WB has a strong programme of support to the Vietnamese Governmentwith 39 projects totalling 7 billion USD.

Thebank is able to bring strong data analysis to the government to help themprepare for these risks and can also channel investment that might strengthen apotential recovery in the future.

TheWB’s disbursements in Vietnam tend to be lower than in the rest of the worldfrom WB’s perspective, Turk noted, citing that on average it takes 19 monthsfrom the approval of the project to the first disbursement of the project.

Inrecent months, however, there has been an acceleration in disbursement onpublic investments financed by public funds in the country, she said.

Shevoiced her hope to see the acceleration also applied to those investments suchas being financed by ODA. There is room for strengthening the management of ODAand there could be more clarity around different roles and responsibilities,Turk stated./.