[HO CHI MINH CITY] The past year was an eventful if somewhat turbulent one for Vietnam, with the global economic slowdown and weaker external demand inflicting some pain on the export-reliant economy.

The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.05 per cent in 2023 – well below the government’s official growth target of 6.5 per cent and significantly less than the 8 per cent expansion in 2022 as Vietnam rode a post-pandemic boom to become one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

The National Assembly has handed the government a target to achieve GDP growth of between 6 and 6.5 per cent in 2024, although there are question marks about whether this goal is realistic given the economic uncertainties ahead.