Hanoi, Aug 26 (IANS): Vietnam's economy is forecast to grow 6.1 per cent in 2024 and 6.5 per cent in both 2025 and 2026, up from 5 per cent in 2023, the World Bank said on Monday.

The Southeast Asian country's economic growth is expected to pick up in 2024, driven by a rebound in manufactured exports and tourism and recovering consumption and business investment, Vietnam News Agency cited the bank's latest Talking Stock report.

The development of capital markets will provide a vital source of long-term funding for Vietnam's economy and help the country achieve its goal of becoming a high-income nation by 2045, said the report.

Dorsati Madani, senior country economist at the World Bank Vietnam, said the country's economic prospects were positive with broadly balanced risks.

The focus should be on speeding up the disbursement of public investment to promote economic growth, she said, Xinhua news agency reported.

Vietnam recorded year-on-year gross domestic product growth of 6.42 percent in the first half of this year, the second-highest H1 growth in the past five years, according to the country's General Statistics Office.