Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam will remain an attractive investment destination in2019, though impacts of the US-China trade tension that triggered a downturn inglobal stock markets in 2018 will not end soon, said Managing Director andChief Investment Officer of VinaCapital Andy Ho.

He said Vietnam’s stock market will beencouraged by a slight earning per share growth rate of 10 – 12 percent in2019. However, this rate is still lower than in previous years, so the marketis unlikely to grow strongly this year.

He forecast a bright prospect for thecountry’s economy in 2019 with positive foreign direct investment (FDI) inflowas manufacturers will come to Vietnam to supply products to mobile phoneproducer Samsung or car maker Vinfast and avoid the trade war’s impact.

The economy is likely to gain a trade surplusas exports are predicted to increase more sharply than imports. Meanwhile, theVietnamese dong will stay stable as the central bank has abundant forexreserves and US dollar supply and demand is not too tense thanks to trade andfiscal surplus, Ho said.

FDI capital continued to flow into the countryin 2018, helping keep the Vietnamese currency stable and stimulate domesticconsumption, he said, adding that data of the State Bank of Vietnam showed inthe first quarter of 2018, foreign investors poured nearly 650 million USD ofindirect investment through purchasing shares of or contributing capital tolocal businesses, rising fivefold year on year.

The VinaCapital director said Vietnam willcontinue to attract FDI in 2019 thanks to competitive labour costs, improvedlabour quality and the proximity to supply chains of regional manufacturers.

Notably, the US-China trade tension is alsoconsidered a stimulus for the redirection of the FDI inflow from China and someother markets to Vietnam, he added.-VNA