FDI flows are shifting and expanding into new sectors.

Dominic Scriven shared his thoughts at VLCA 2025. (Photo: Le Toan)

According to Dominic Scriven, the world is facing numerous challenges, including: monetary issues; internal problems within individual countries; international issues between nations; climate change; and technological issues.

In Vietnam, the picture is somewhat more positive. Thanks to government support and policy management, growth in the quarters and for the whole of 2025 remains relatively optimistic, although natural disasters may affect GDP.

As we enter 2026, the target of 10% GDP growth has been clearly stated. This is not just a matter of numbers, but also a matter of confidence, and confidence will have a significant impact on growth results.

This objective is also linked to new policies, based on Resolution 68, which emphasizes the role of the private sector and encourages its stronger participation in development plans.

I would like to point out that Vietnam's private sector currently comprises approximately 500,000 companies and around 5 million individual business households. With the new tax policies, a portion of informal activity will be drawn into the formal sector. According to our estimates, this factor alone could contribute more than 1% annually over the next 3-4 years. Therefore, I think achieving 10% growth is not out of the question.
Chairman of Dragon Capital Dominic Scriven

According to Dominic Scriven, the PMI index has continuously improved since the beginning of 2025, and foreign investment activity has also remained positive.

In particular, FDI flows have begun to appear in other sectors such as real estate, instead of industry and manufacturing as before.

However, the trend for next year lies in overall investment, from public to private investment.

"The government's message about encouraging strong private sector participation in infrastructure development is clear. However, I believe many foreign investors still don't fully understand, trust, or appreciate this impetus," Dominic Scriven assessed.

On the other hand, we cannot ignore Vietnam's traditional driving force: exports. This year, export turnover far exceeded the forecasts of many experts, despite the tariff policies of US President Donald Trump. In fact, exports not only did not decrease but also increased significantly.

One of the key reasons is the continuous economic diplomacy campaign implemented in recent times, which has helped Vietnam establish and concretize agreements with many international partners. This has created more room for Vietnamese businesses as well as FDI companies to expand their production and export activities.

However, all of this would not be possible without adequate fiscal, monetary, and financial policies to support it.

"This year's credit growth rate is higher than last year's. Vietnam's total credit is now over 100% of GDP, which is not high compared to some countries in the region and some major countries, but the role of Vietnam's corporate bond market is still very modest," said Dominic, further emphasizing the role of the capital market. Not only the corporate bond market, but the stock market also has enormous potential by 2030.

However, recent years haven't been consistently favorable for the stock market. In 2022, overall market returns were negative. In 2023, overall market returns continued to be negative, significantly impacting investor morale. It wasn't until 2024 that company profits began to recover after two bad years. This year, the market has truly settled into a stable state and become the strongest market in the region.

Despite having 1,500 listed companies on the market, Dragon Capital fund conducted a detailed review of approximately 120 companies and focused more closely on about 80 companies, accounting for nearly 80% of the market capitalization, which helped the fund's third-quarter profit increase by 21%.

This growth stems not only from sales but also from improvements in corporate profit margins between quarters. This is a positive sign for 2026, as companies have begun to return to direct investment and lay the foundation for growth in the following years.

"For next year, while not being overly optimistic, the average total profit is projected to be around 16-17%. Vietnam is in a fairly favorable cycle, and we can see that the profit growth rate of companies is expanding and increasing," the Chairman of Dragon Capital affirmed, further emphasizing that conditions for the Vietnamese stock market, companies, and capital flows are relatively favorable for 2026.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/dong-von-fdi-dich-chuyen-mo-rong-vao-cac-linh-vuc-moi-post928871.html