New context leads to 'unprecedented' investment opportunities in Vietnam: experts

"The new context" is openning up unprecedented investment opportunities in Vietnam, experts highlighted at a workshop hosted by The Investor in Hanoi on Wednesday.

The event, titled "Investment Opportunities in the New Context," focused on practical information and data to help investors and businesses make investment decisions. It also provided a forum for policymakers and regulators to receive recommendations from the business community.

In his opening speech, Pham Duc Son, editor-in-chief of The Investor, said that 2025 is of special importance as it is the final year of implementing the five-year socio-economic development plan (2021-2025) and preparing for the start of a new development era for the country.

Vietnam aims to reach a GDP growth of at least 8% this year, in order to achieve double-digit growth annually afterwards. The Vietnamese authorities are striving to push the growth by boosting public investment, improving the business climate, streamlining the administrative apparatus, and empowering the private sector.

"These solutions have openned up unprecedented economic spaces and business opportunities in many industries and fields," said Son.

In his latest article on the private economy, Party General Secretary To Lam has shown a great vision for the era of Vietnamese private enterprises' rising. He affirmed the effective protection of property rights, ownership rights, business freedom rights, and the guarantee of contract enforcement for private enterprises, the editor in chief told the forum.

"However, the challenges for us are also huge. In the world, the trade war is spreading, while strategic competition between major countries is still fierce. With a large proportion of international trade, nearly double the GDP, Vietnam's trade and monetary policies are facing many unpredictable variables."

In the country, the revolution to streamline the administrative apparatus brings great expectations for operational efficiency and budget savings, but also raises concerns about disruptions in operations, which will take time for the country to get used to and adapt to.

"The new context requires investors and businesses to identify, analyze, evaluate and forecast challenges and opportunities, in order to develop appropriate strategies and business decisions," Son added.

Speaking at the event, Prof. Nguyen Mai, chairman of the Vietnam’s Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE) - the parent entity of The Investor, said Vietnam has already issued resolutions to develop sectors of science-technology, digitalization, private businesses, startups, and semiconductors.

He suggested Vietnamese companies take new approaches; amend and supplement their strategies based on shifting to governance in line with digital trends, AI, Blockchain and Fintech to meet the requirements of new generation FTAs; cash in on demand for environmentally friendly products; and reduce emissions towards net zero by 2050.

He called on major state-owned enterprises to help small and medium-sized enterprises join the supply chain and upgrade the workforce and technology, in order to take a bigger share in the domestic market.

Pham Thi Thuy Linh, head of the Securities Market Development Department, under the State Securities Commission (SSC), said upgrading the stock market is inevitable to lift the country's GDP growth this year.

She suggested solutions to improve the legal framework related to the stock market, in order to further facilitate investors and help businesses better access capital.

"There should be more clarity for regulations on foreign ownership limits (FOLs) in sectors; filings in both English and Vietnamese languages; shorter time for IPO processes and for openning trading accounts; more products on the market such as green bonds and trust funds; transparency improvement; and applications of technological advancements," Linh told the forum.

Can Van Luc, chief economist of BIDV bank and director of BIDV Research & Training Institute, commented that the country's 8% GDP growth goal is feasible as the government has already assigned targets for each locality and sector. He suggested Vietnam can learn from China in promoting consumption.

Key solutions are improving the transparency of the stock and real estate markets, boosting the labor market, streamlining administrative procedures, and enhancing the tourism sector with new characteristics.

Developing the tourism sector will help Vietnam reduce the trade deficit in the service sector, given that the tourism and logistics sectors account for big portions.

Ly Anh Tuan, CEO of local investment platform InvestingPro, highlighted investment opportunities in the bond and fund investment certificate fields, as they are being "overlooked" by investors.

While the stock market is crowded with 9.4 million traders, 1,500 tickers, and capitalization equivalent to 70% of the country's GDP, the benchmark VN-Index only grew 12% in 2024.

The bond and fund certificate sector outpaced the stock market as the average growth of funds reached 20% in 2024. Despite the strong performance, the capitalization is equivalent to 0.5% of the country's GDP, he noted.

To boost the sector, he suggested authorities remove the 5% tax on dividends for fund investment certificates to avoid double taxation for investors and remove the 0.1% tax on fund investment certificates to raise the attractiveness versus short-term bank deposits.