Vietnam News Network

The Wall Street Journal of the US has predicted that Vietnam may keep growing amid the global doom and gloom.

The Journal wrote on March that in Vietnam and a few of its Asian neighbors, vibrant domestic demand, lower interest rates and slowing inflation are helping to offset some of the pain caused by the crisis.

The daily attributed this to the fact that Vietnam, compared to other regional countries, is less reliant on exports and its consumer spending has built up enough in the past decade to keep growth afloat.

According to the US journal, the country continues to draw on the momentum from opening its economy to the rest of the world. It quoted the government statistics showing that retail sales of goods and services in the first two months of the year grew 21 percent from the same period last year.

The paper also pointed to the advertiser’s interest in the Vietnamese market with London-based advertising and public-relations giant WPP Group PLC in January acquiring 20 percent of Vietnam’s state-backed advertising agency Smart Media Joint Stock Co.

It said the WPP projected that advertisers would increase media spending in Vietnam by 16 percent this year.