With its economy growing at its fastest pace in eight years during the first half of 2018, Vietnam is defying the stress in emerging markets as its Southeast Asian rivals face an uncertain outlook driven by trade war risks and a stronger dollar, CNBC reports. Meanwhile, policymakers in Indonesia are grappling to deal with a weakened currency, the rupiah, which was valued at just 14,930 per U.S. dollar last week — its lowest point since the 1998 Asian financial crisis. In Philippines, inflation accelerated to 6.4% in the third quarter, prompting the Philippine central bank to respond with a rate hike of 50 basis points, its largest in a decade, Forbes reports. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected that the country will almost certainly miss its growth target.