VinaCapital chairman Terry Mahony said: “In the short run, Vietnam still faces challenges including high inflation and interest rates, which cause pressure to investment funds.”

Andy Ho, head of investment, said that investors were worried about the dong weakening and would make decisions only if they discovered opportunities unaffected by the forex-rate risk.

However, he said inflation was trending down and should be around 12-14 percent for 2012.

“The most important thing is that the Government should stick to the current policy to ensure stability, as well as invest more aggressively and more efficiently in infrastructure and education and training,” he said.

He added that this development would help improve productivity, thus attracting investors.

VinaCapital CEO Don Lam said he would focus on investor relations with updates and road shows to Europe, North America and Asia, which would begin later this month.

Clear picture

“We will continue to highlight Vietnam’s long-term strengths by actively participating at international investment conferences and events,” said Don.

Around 40 investors attended the VinaCapital event in HCM City on October 13 to hear a detailed review of the performance of its funds over the past 12 months.

“We want our investors to have a clear picture of the investment environment facing our funds, and our accomplishments during this challenging time,” said the CEO.

Vietnam’s GDP growth has slowed to under six percent due to tight fiscal and monetary policies put in place to fight high inflation.

As a result, the equities and real estate markets have performed poorly.

Foreign investment has continued, however, with several significant investments by multinational companies attracted to the long-term potential.

VNS