Vietnam's 2014 growth expected to hit 5.62%

 Vietnam's 2014 growth is expected to hit 5.6 percent and see steady yet slow improvement to 5.8 percent in 2015, according to the Australia-New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) in Vietnam.
The bank's forecast is based on its latest report showing rate saw a strong increase in Vietnam's economic growth in the third quarter of this year to 5.62 percent, higher than 5.1 percent a year earlier, state-run Radio Voice of Vietnam reported Thursday.
Growth in the medium term is expected to stay below long-term average as both the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank forecast a growth rate of 5.5 percent in 2014, and the World Bank expected a growth of 5.4 percent.
With inflation still on a downward path, price savvy consumers may be delaying purchases in anticipation of even lower prices, said ANZ.
According to the bank, the industrial production index is expanding slower than the same period in 2013. However, the recovery in the Purchasing Managers' Index to 51.7 in September remains supportive of the manufacturing sector.
ANZ predicted that credit growth will likely accelerate through the fourth quarter of this year. Loan growth reached 7.26 percent as the end of September, from 4.33 percent in the previous month. Despite the subsequent rise in rates, liquidity is still supportive of economic activity.
Regarding foreign direct investment (FDI), ANZ said as of Sept. 20, there were 1,152 newly approved projects that brought in more than 7.64 billion U.S. dollars in pledged capital. Some 417 existing projects received additional funding worth 3.54 billion U. S. dollars, taking total FDI to 11.18 billion U.S. dollars. FDI into manufacturing is still taking the largest share, keeping the outlook on exports promising.