January 25th 2024, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (CanCham) successfully organized our 19th Crystal Ball Business Luncheon - 2024 The Year Ahead with 100 participants and registers gathering at The Reverie Saigon Hotel to discuss the future of 5 different fields in 2024.
This year, our Crystal Ball Business Luncheon also welcomed Ms. Annie Dubé - Consul General of Canada in Ho Chi Minh City.
During the luncheon, our 5 speakers showcased their expertise by sharing insightful data, report and analysis of their fields as well as predictions for the upcoming months of 2024.
Ms. Minh Dang - Head of Research at Dragon Capital, started her presentation with an overview of Vietnam Economics in 2024 portraited the current situation in growth and the reason behind it. Next up in her presentation, Ms. Minh shared an Uneven Expansion in the Global Business Cycle, Global Trade growth in 2024 etc. Her topics covered a general view of several fields such as Stock, Banking, Manufacturing, Consumption, Investment and more.
Mr. Peter Redhead - Head of Research at Ho Chi Minh Securities (HSC), updated on the current situation of Stock Markets. Peter outlined the sector views and stock picks as well as the upside and downside risks of the market. Overall, there are several trends, according to Peter, that should be kept in mind when making a decision such as Macro recovery (including Government spending & FDI), consumer sentiment, tourist numbers recovering and resolution to issues around corporate bonds.
Our next speaker continuing the program was Mr. Ralf Matthaes - Founder/ Managing Director at Infocus Mekong Research (IFM) on Consumers updates. To start off, Ralf shared his report on Vietnam's Economy from 2020 to 2024 as a psychological emotive measure to the consumer confidence index. Based on IFM Consumer Confidence Index - January 2024 the top fears for this year shifted to not only Inflation and Unemployment but also Global Economics slow down and Bankruptcy. He also outlined the Loans/Lending & Debt market research IFM had compiled with increasing number of loans take out. During his presentation, Ralf also shared the estimated consumption growth by category in 2024 as well as Meta Trends for the year and ended with several predictions for 2024 on sector growth/decline, shopping behavior, consumer spend etc.
Next, Mr. Alex Crane - Managing Director at Knight Frank shared updates on the Real Estate market. Alex started off his presentation with a comparison between Hanoi and HCMC Condominium showcasing an increase in new supply for the next three years in Hanoi due to mega-urban projects. In addition, Alex also shared insights on the HCMC Office Market and ended his presentation with an overview of the expectation, current happening and future actions for the market.
Our last speaker, Mr. Matthew Smith - Head of Research at Yuanta Securities Vietnam shared his expert analytics on Banks Outlook. Sharing an overview of the share price performance by sectors, Matthew stated that despite global economic uncertainties and the need to leverage their actual profitability to dive growth vs deposit and loan volumes, Vietnam's banking sector remains resilient, with sound regulatory frameworks ensuring stability, relying on SOE deposits and navigating the pressure of corporate bond default rate.
The luncheon wrapped up with a Q&A Panel Discussion between the 5 speakers, moderated by Mr. Eric Levinson, Head of Business Development at VinaCapital, where the panel addressed different questions related to different fields in 2024.
More photos from the event:
We would also like to thank our partners and in-kind sponsor for their amazing support
In-kind Sponsor: Hoiana Resort & Golf
Co-hosts: BeluxCham Vietnam, Central and Eastern European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (CEEC), CTCVN- Council of Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, HKBAV - Hong Kong Business Association Vietnam, Malaysia Business Chamber Vietnam - MBC, Singapore Chamber of Commerce Vietnam
See the Full Album of Crystal Ball 2024 at: Crystal Ball Business Luncheon 2024