Vietnam could be among the top 20 economies by 2050, projected PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in a report on its perspectives on Vietnam.

The report was released on the occasion of the APEC CEO Summit, which is taking place in the central city of Da Nang on November 8-10 as part of the APEC 2017 Economic Leaders’ Week.

According to the report, in the long term, PwC forecast that Vietnam will be among the fastest growing economies in the world as its average real GDP growth reaches 5.1 percent per year.

Confidence levels are high among business leaders in Vietnam, with up to 47% of foreign business investors in Vietnam plan to increase their investments in the Southeast Asian country over the next 12 months, auditing and consulting firm PwC has said in a recent survey.

This makes Vietnam most attractive destination for planned increases in cross-border investments the 21 Pacific Rim economies. The others include mainland China, Indonesia and the U.S., where at least 40% of foreign CEOs plan to raise spending.

PwC surveyed over 1,400 business leaders with responsibility in each of the 21 APEC economies in the run up to the annual APEC CEO Summit in Vietnam. Dinh Thi Quynh Van, PwC Vietnam general director, noted that positive sentiments can be seen in three areas: an expanding domestic economy, expectations of new growth from trade agreements, and export expansion (both regional and intra-regional export growth), along with a positive outlook on innovation in key sectors of opportunity.

“Sustained economic reform, coupled with a strengthening of public institutions and an emphasis on education and skills development will be crucial to make Vietnam fit for the future,” Van said.

According to key findings, up to 92% of CEOs in Vietnam are confident in growth for their business over the next 12 months, with 38% of them saying that they are “very confident”.

In 2016, 50% of CEOs in Vietnam were ‘very confident’ in revenue growth. However, the comparison to 38% ‘very confident’ in 2017 is not significant as this is within the margin of error, PwC said. A net 62% of Vietnam CEOs said they will increase investments in 2018, above the APEC average of 50%.

Source: BIZNEWS , Vietnam Pictorial