Customers shop at a supermarket in HCM City. Viet Nam's populous economy promises strong consumption growth. — Photo gafin.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam has the fastest growing middle class dynamics of any economy in Asia, said ANZ Asia Pacific chief economist Glenn Maguire.

Glenn made the statement as the ANZ Bank announced the launch of Viet Nam's first monthly private consumer confidence index, in partnership with Roy Morgan Research, last Friday.

The ANZ-Roy Morgan Viet Nam Consumer Confidence Index rebounded sharply to reach 131.0, up 7.7 points, in June. This is just above the 2014 average of 130.5.

The survey covered major cities and provinces across Viet Nam, and the increase was primarily driven by rising confidence about personal financial situations amongst the Vietnamese people.

"The combination of strengthening growth, a larger labour force and strong productivity will underpin the very fast growth of Viet Nam's consuming classes," said Glenn. "We expect the country to add nearly two million consumers every year to the class that will become an increasingly important driver of growth."

Viet Nam is Asia's fourth most populous economy, with a third of its population being under 20 years of age and the average earnings growing at around 10 per cent per year.

The stage is set for strong growth in consumption, and economic growth will rebalance and move away from export and investment-led growth over the next decade, according to the bank.

ANZ and Roy Morgan currently organise consumer confidence surveys for Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, China and Viet Nam. They plan to launch in five additional Asian countries where ANZ does business over the coming months. — VNS