In an interview granted to the press, Coppola explained that Vietnam’s export has been very strong in the past and shown to be resilient, including during the COVID-19 crisis when manufacturing exports were the main driver of GDP growth. He added that domestic consumption and retail sales were powerful engines of growth for the country in 2022. This is reflected by the strong recovery of retail sales, which grew by 17% year-on-year in October 2022 compared to 0.4% year-on-year in January. Meanwhile, private investments played an important role, he said, noting that during the first 11 months of 2022, FDI disbursements grew by more than 15% than during the same period in 2021. According to the economist, the Vietnamese economy will face strong headwinds in 2023 on both external and internal fronts./.