{"id":601204,"date":"2026-04-23T08:11:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/601204\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T08:11:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:11:29","slug":"vietnam-set-to-become-southeast-asias-second-largest-economy-by-ppp-imf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/601204\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam set to become Southeast Asia\u2019s second-largest economy by PPP: IMF"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n A view of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam\u2019s southern economic hub, as the country is forecast by the International Monetary Fund to become Southeast Asia\u2019s second-largest economy by purchasing power parity between 2026 and 2031. Photo: Quang Dinh \/ Tuoi Tre \n <\/p>\n


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The IMF has released its latest forecast on the economic size of six major Southeast Asian economies from 2026 to 2031, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.<\/p>\n

Under this outlook, Vietnam\u2019s gross domestic product (GDP) measured by PPP is expected to reach US$2.025 trillion in 2026, surpassing Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore, and ranking second only to Indonesia, whose economy is forecast at $5.230 trillion.<\/p>\n

Vietnam is also projected to be the only country besides Indonesia to exceed the $2 trillion mark that year.<\/p>\n

The gap between Vietnam and Thailand is forecast to widen further in the following years.<\/p>\n

By 2031, Vietnam\u2019s PPP-based GDP is projected to exceed Thailand\u2019s by more than $500 billion, pulling well ahead of Malaysia and the Philippines and consolidating its position as the second-largest economy in ASEAN.<\/p>\n

Although Vietnam is still lagging behind Indonesia, it is expected to be the fastest in the region at narrowing the gap, with its economy rising from about 39 percent of Indonesia\u2019s size in 2026 to nearly 46 percent by 2031.<\/p>\n

Vietnam is also projected to significantly outpace Singapore in economic size, with its PPP-based GDP calculated to be more than 2.2 times larger by 2031, reflecting advantages in population scale and growth momentum, while Singapore is set to remain the clear leader in per capita income.<\/p>\n

PPP is derived from the World Bank\u2019s International Comparison Program, which uses global price benchmarks to compare living costs across countries and determine how much money is needed to purchase the same goods in different economies, said Dr. Nguyen Anh Vu, head of the finance faculty at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Banking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said the IMF\u2019s projection that Vietnam will surpass Thailand to become Southeast Asia\u2019s second-largest economy by PPP in the 2026\u201331 period is reasonable.<\/p>\n

He explained that historically, Thailand\u2019s economy was far larger than Vietnam\u2019s, but the gap has narrowed significantly as Vietnam has maintained stronger growth over a prolonged period.<\/p>\n

In 2006, Thailand\u2019s nominal GDP stood at over $220 billion, compared to just over $66 billion for Vietnam.<\/p>\n

By 2024, Thailand\u2019s nominal and PPP GDP reached nearly $530 billion and $1.770 trillion, respectively, while Vietnam\u2019s figures rose to nearly $480 billion and $1.650 trillion.<\/p>\n

However, Dr. Vu cautioned that surpassing Thailand in economic size does not mean Vietnam has overtaken it in overall development, as living standards are better reflected by GDP per capita.<\/p>\n

By this measure, Vietnam still lags behind Thailand.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Thailand\u2019s nominal GDP per capita was nearly $7,350, compared to about $4,720 for Vietnam, while PPP-based GDP per capita stood at over $24,710 for Thailand and $16,385 for Vietnam.<\/p>\n

The gap partly reflects population differences, with Vietnam\u2019s population exceeding 100 million compared to around 70 million in Thailand.<\/p>\n

Dr. Vu likened this to two families with the same income but different numbers of members, noting that the smaller family would enjoy a higher standard of living.<\/p>\n

Still, he said the IMF\u2019s projection that Vietnam will surpass Thailand and other regional peers to become Southeast Asia\u2019s second-largest economy by PPP marks a significant milestone, reflecting years of sustained high growth, reinforcing Vietnam\u2019s position in the region, and providing a solid foundation for the next phase of economic expansion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A view of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam\u2019s southern economic hub,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-601204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}