Citi CEO Jane Fraser delivered remarks on the APEC stage in San Francisco on November 16, highlighting the New Era of Diversification in Trade and Supply Chains.

“We are witnessing a monumental shift towards another new era, and trade and supply chains are at the heart of these changes,” she told the gathering. “The heightened focus on resiliency has given birth to a new era of diversification.”

“Increased focus on resiliency is how investments in supply chains are creating diversified economies. Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam are early examples of this in the Indo Pacific.”

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)  forum brings together 21 economies from around the Asia-Pacific region to cooperate in the shared goal of creating a more open, resilient, sustainable, and peaceful future for the people of the world’s most dynamic region.

Citi is a Platinum Sponsor of the forum, and has hosted bilateral meetings and given a keynote address.

It also produced four reports showcasing its stance on APEC economies and aligned with the themes of the forum. In a report on the APEC Economic Outlook, Citi economists highlighted the recovery of Vietnam’s economy.

After declining from a high of 16 per cent a year ago, Vietnam’s year-on-year credit growth appears to be stabilizing in the 9 per cent range as of August. A pulse is also now visible in the real estate sector. Land transactions in the third quarter increased 1.3-fold against the previous quarter.

“Taking a longer-term view, we are encouraged that FDI in the manufacturing sector in 2023 has so far managed to grow 15 per cent on a year-on-year basis, indicating that Vietnam’s structural story as an emerging manufacturing hub remains intact,” Ms. Fraser said.

The increase in production capacity that follows should support the further recovery of industrial production and ease the cyclical headwinds to household purchasing power by jumpstarting labor absorption in the manufacturing sector. “We think the recovery could still gain traction in the next few months or couple of quarters,” the report highlighted.

Based on current forecasts, Citi expects Vietnam to post GDP growth of 4.7 per cent in 2023 and 5.7 per cent in 2024.