Vietnam’s economy in 2021 and outlook for 2022

Abstract

The year 2021 marks the second consecutive year that Vietnam’s economy is heavily affected by the epidemic. Economic growth has not kept pace with the recovery of the global economy, reaching only about 2.58%, the lowest level in more than 3 decades. Production, business, and employment, especially in the service sector, were heavily affected, and consumption also dropped sharply. Exports and digital transformation are rare bright spots in the economic picture in 2021. Entering 2022, with a high level of vaccine coverage, a change in strategy to flexibly adapt to the epidemic, and support from the program of economic and social recovery and development, Vietnam’s economy is forecasted to be more positive. However, the unpredictability of new virus strains, the context of the “new normal”, the uncertainty and complicated developments of world geopolitics place higher requirements on economic management to react faster, stronger, more decisively, and
more cautiously in 2022.