The Vietnamese Economy

In 2005, Vietnam celebrates the 30th anniversary of the end of the war which ended in America's defeat. It will be a chance for the outside world to understand the new Vietnam. For some, the war left a misleading image of Vietnam as a country peopled by peasant farmers and utterly destroyed. But today, Vietnam's economy is among the fastest-growing in the region, with annual growth of about 7%, and Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City, is one of the most vibrant cities in South East Asia.

Exports are rising rapidly - mainly because of items like seafood, silk and timber products - while the country is also attracting new investment in cars and electronics. Fast economic growth always entails a gap between rich and poor, between the haves and have-nots. The Danish head of the European Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi, Preben Hjortlund, said Vietnam was speeding along the same path as South Korea and other East Asian ‘tiger economies'. Vietnam, he predicts, will achieve its economic miracle even faster than they did.

Adapted from BBC World Service news, October, 2004

chinese translation | japanese translation | korean translation