Page 61 - Glass Machinery Plants & Accessories no. 4-2019

IETNAM: IMPORTANT
GROWTH AND
VDEVELOPMENT
Walking around in Hanoi,
Vietnam’s capital, you can feel
boundless energy everywhere.
People whiz by on scooters, buy-
ing and selling everything from
beverages to food in the count-
less small shops, and running to
and fro to get to work. Vietnam
is young, growing, and anything
feels possible.
A mere 30 years ago, Vietnam
was one of the poorest countries
in the world. Today, it is one of
the stars of the emerging mar-
kets universe. Whereas its GDP
per capita was barely USD 230
in 1985, it was more than ten
times that in 2017 (USD 2,343).
Corrected for purchasing power,
it stands even higher, at over
USD 6,000. Its economic growth
of 6-7 per cent rivals China, and
it exports are worth as much as
12 per cent of the total value of
its GDP.
The country’s container glass
industry has received significant
growth from a very healthy pop-
ulation growth rate. Vietnam’s
population has registered one
of the healthiest growths in the
ASEAN region. From 60 million
in 1986, the year economic liber-
alisation started, the Vietnamese
population has jumped by more
than 60 per cent to 97 million at
the end of 2017.
In 2017, Vietnam’s gross
domestic product (GDP) record-
ed an impressive decade-high
growth rate of 6.81 per cent. The
country also set a record in for-
eign investment inflow and trade
revenues (USD 424 billion, over
four times the figure in 2007,
when the country became part of
the World Trade Organization
- WTO). Vietnam is considered
to be one of the region’s most
attractive markets for interna-

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