Business in Vietnam continues.

There is little sign of the stock market melting away in this growth market.

On the contrary: the country's most important billionaire, Vingroup founder Pham Nhat Vuong, is currently doing everything he has to offer in his group to spread good news around the world: his car manufacturer Vinfast is looking for a production site in Europe, and Germany is far ahead in the election – despite Tesla's ongoing disaster in Grünheide.

In North Carolina, USA, a decision has been made to build a factory for almost 7 billion dollars.

This is how the electric cars from the Mekong with jump starters from partners BMW and Bosch are to become a household name around the world.

Christopher Hein

Business correspondent for South Asia/Pacific based in Singapore.

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Even at Vingroup, not everything that glitters is currently gold.

As a precaution, the Vietnamese canceled the IPO planned for this summer on Wall Street "because of the market situation".

And last year, the loss in the industrial group, which includes the automotive industry, is said to have amounted to almost $1 billion.

So far, however, the Vuong has not been able to brake;

he changes direction, switches overnight to the production of only electric cars.

The country is in a similar situation to him: it is tough and adaptable.

A quarter of a century after the Asian financial crisis took its fatal course with the floating of the Thai baht on July 2, 1997, Vietnam is the managers' darling.

The country can hardly save itself from investment applications - also because it came through the corona pandemic comparatively well.

"In the past five years, they have ignited a rocket here," says Alexander Götz.

The 33-year-old runs Fischer Asia, a manufacturer of stamped metal parts in Ho Chi Minh City.

"The Europeans have to hurry, otherwise everything will be full." Vietnam, it seems to many here, is the better, cheaper China.

You don't relocate;

but when expanding into Asia, Vietnam is first choice.

You don't relocate;

but when expanding into Asia, Vietnam is first choice.

You don't relocate;

but when expanding into Asia, Vietnam is first choice.

Optimism everywhere - just not on the stock exchange

The good mood is not reflected in the stock market.

The VN30 index is down 20.07 percent year-to-date as the market cap shrank by $53 billion.

The narrower HNX index from the capital Hanoi even lost 41 percent.

The Vingroup share was not spared either: it fell by almost 23 percent, its real estate company Vinhomes lost 22 percent.

The price-to-earnings ratio for stocks in the index is now 12.9, down 25 percent from its highest level in the past six months.

For comparison: the average for the past ten years was 15, in the first half of last year it was 19.2.

The dealers say that the decline in the tight market is mainly due to a critical view of foreign investors:

They also sell the top 30 Vietnamese stocks when they reduce their investments in emerging markets or in Asia as a whole.

In addition, China's problems are having an impact on its small neighbors: couldn't the real estate crisis there rub off on the other communist market?

Does the major investor Samsung from South Korea still get enough components from China?

And will purchasing power and industry in the west soon suffer so badly that demand in Vietnam could also melt?

Couldn't the real estate crisis rub off on the other communist market there?

Does the major investor Samsung from South Korea still get enough components from China?

And will purchasing power and industry in the west soon suffer so badly that demand in Vietnam could also melt?

Couldn't the real estate crisis rub off on the other communist market there?

Does the major investor Samsung from South Korea still get enough components from China?

And will purchasing power and industry in the west soon suffer so badly that demand in Vietnam could also melt?

There is still no sign of this - optimism everywhere.

Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Planning and Investment, just upgraded the expectation for economic growth this year to 7 percent from 6 to 6.5 percent.

The third quarter should increase by 9 percent, then the target value can be reached.

For this, however, the banks would have to act differently than in the rest of the world, said Dung: "The credit institutions must continue to lower interest rates in order to reduce the costs of companies and the economy as a whole," he demanded.

In the past Corona year, the growth rate was only 2.58 percent.

Investors should trust and be patient

Although its parent company Vingroup alone has lost almost 4 billion in value on the stock exchange, Vuong remains optimistic.

The analysts also support this: “The long-term growth is supported by foreign investments.

Vietnam has taken a growing American stake from China.

It benefits from corporations strategically diversifying their supply chains,” says Chua Han Teng of Singapore bank DBS.

Perhaps investors should copy the behavior: Confidence in a recovery, also driven by foreign investors.

He likes to stretch.

But the number of investment applications speaks of hope for the Mekong market.