Vietnam's Growth Spurs Talk of ETF

By Carl Delfeld of the Chartwell ETF Advisor and Chartwell Partners Asset Management

Vietnam continues to post strong economic growth despite the US slowdown spurring more talk about the feasibility of a Vietnam fund or even an exchange-traded fund down the road.

Nguyen Tan Dung, prime minister, said Vietnam’s communist government was committed to a target of 8-9% for annual GDP growth. It also planned to boost the value of exports by 20 per cent this year. In the first two months, the increase was 30%, Mr Dung said in an interview with the Financial Times.

Vietnam is also trying to increase exports “not only to the US, the EU, Japan and China but also to the large markets of the Middle Eastern countries and African countries”, Mr Dung said, now that Vietnam was a full member of the World Trade Organisation. In 2007 the US accounted for more than $10bn, or a fifth, of Vietnam’s exports.

One rising concern for investors in Vietnam is the surge in inflation which rose to 15.7% in February.
Another is the lack of progress in moving to a more open political system as Vietnam's authoritarian government show little appetite for reforms.

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