Don Lam, VinaCapital Co-Founder and CEO, recently spoke to a group of Korean investors via video regarding Vietnam’s efforts to manage the COVID-19 outbreak, how the pandemic will affect the economy, and investment opportunities now and once the pandemic subsides. This is part 1 of an abridged version of the presentation he delivered to the Seoul International Finance Forum on 22 April 2020. Click the video on the right side of the Coronavirus update page to view Don’s presentation.

Governments around the world face a difficult choice in managing the COVID-19 outbreak: the need to balance the medical health of their citizens and the economic health of their countries as they decide how quickly to re-open their economies. Chief Economist Michael Kokalari looks at the factors governments – including Vietnam’s – will use as they consider this important decision.

Vietnam has, by all accounts, done a stellar job of “flattening the COVID-19 curve”, earning praise from around the globe. How has Vietnam achieved these encouraging results? Chief Economist Michael Kokalari takes a brief look at some of the measures that have been implemented and discusses why Vietnam’s economy will be less affected than many of its neighbors.

Introducing “Vietnam by Numbers,” a set of key economic and sector data compiled by VinaCapital’s research team. This set of charts and tables will be updated each month, with limited commentary — we let the data “do the talking.” We hope our investors and other readers find it useful.

It has been more than a month since VinaCapital’s Chief Economist Michael Kokalari first published his views about the possible economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. With the situation rapidly evolving since then and the impact intensifying, Mike has cut his forecast of Vietnam’s GDP growth to 4%, and provides a comprehensive analysis of when and how he expects the country’s economy to ramp up later this year.