The article said that Viet Nam has risen up after three decades of Doi Moi from one of the poorest nations on earth to become a lower middle income country with a market oriented economy.
It was said that the image of a poor and at-war Viet Nam described by international press during the 1960s and 1970s has disappeared and been replaced by office towers, high-end boutiques and bustling streets.
Ho Chi Minh City was described as the most dynamic city in the region with the image of being-built skylines. Near the city’s tallest building the Bitexco Financial tower, a symbol of the city, is the almost completed Vietcombank tower which was designed by renowned architecture firm Pelli Clarke Pelli - a soaring art deco-inspired structure.
In 1986, the average annual income was around US$100 and the figure is now almost US$2,000 and double that in urban areas, the article said.
Despite negative effects of the global economic crisis in 2008, Viet Nam has achieved a 6.3% gross domestic product growth in the first half of 2015, the equivalent of its growth average during the 2000s. After struggling with rising inflation in recent years, the consumer price index rose only 0.6% in August 2015 compared to 4.3% for the same period the year before.
Helping to drive this growth in a country of 94 million people is a disproportionally young and well connected population. According to 2014 data, more than 40% of the populations was under 25 years of age.
The country is also incredibly connected, with just about every café, restaurant or bar offering free wifi to patrons, and smartphone ownership exploding. The 2014 The Global Connected Consumer Study by research firm TNS found 40% of the population access the internet on a daily basis, while one in thee Vietnamese own a smartphone.
However, the article stated arising matters, including income disparity which leads to increasing the rich-poor gap and remained poverty in ethnic minority groups. It was said that corruption, red tape, business and property ownership regulations still need to be resolved. The World Bank’s ease of doing business index ranks Viet Nam 90th out of 189 surveyed economies.
However, despite these challenges there is much to be positive about in the economic outlook for Viet Nam.
Considering where the country came from only 30 years ago, it can be regarded as one of the quiet success stories of Asia, the story concluded.
Chinhphu.vn