Singapore's virus-hit economy could shrink by as much as seven percent this year - the worst reading since independence - the government said on Tuesday, as it unveiled a fresh multi-billion-dollar stimulus package.

Vietnamese firms need to diversify their overseas markets and improve their strengths to capitalise on opportunities after the Covid-19 pandemic ends, an online seminar heard in HCM City on Friday.

The United States said on Friday it would add 33 Chinese firms and institutions to an economic blacklist for helping Beijing spy on its minority Uighur population or because of ties to weapons of mass destruction and China’s military.

Vietnam can entrench itself in global supply chains if the U.S. forms a network of partners to reduce reliance on China, analysts said.

The Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and Vietnam-EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) have been submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and approval on May 28.

With initial success in containing COVID-19 and an advantage as a safe investment destination, Vietnam is attracting a shift of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows

Việt Nam attracted US$12.33 billion worth of foreign direct investment in the first four months of 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 15.5 per cent due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Foreign Investment Agency.

Việt Nam has some great advantages while competing with regional countries in attracting capital flows moving out of China after the COVID-19 pandemic, experts have said.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact, the wood industry still enjoyed 3.2 billion USD in exports in the first four months of 2019, up 6 percent year on year, thanks to businesses’ efforts to switch to online trading and find new markets.

With modernisation of armed forces and indigenous manufacturing emerging as focus areas, defence is another sector with huge potential for growth.