Vietnam has come a long way in terms of its economy. Each year, Vietnam’s economy is growing by an average of 7%, causing an increase in the countries living standards, quality of health services as well as patriotism.
Post-war Economy in Vietnam
Post-war Vietnam was struggling in terms of its economy. After the war, many well educated people fled from Vietnam, reducing the amount of progress, economy wise, due to the fact that the country needed the well educated people to bring them back from the war torn Vietnam, to the Vietnam seen today. Not only this, but hundreds of thousands more, mainly those associated with the Americans were sent to jail for “re-educating”, a term that means torture, conversion to communism, and ultimately the dumbing-down of society, this restricted the efficiency and economic progress of the country.
Other skilled but politically suspect people were forced to move to rural areas, this didn’t allow them to provide the full potential of their education for the good of the country. Not only this but large police and military expenditures diverted money from the production of material goods, and without the export of these materials, there were no profits for the government and therefore the economy slowed. At this point in time, the growth of Vietnam’s economy, in the people’s eyes, seemed far fetched.
After a period of time, that seemed like forever in the people’s eyes, the socialist government decided to allow a “market economy with socialist orientation,” a policy named Doi Moi. This meant that the government had realised that a socialist economy was not working for the country and decided to allow foreign export and individual ownership to help improve the economy, however the Vietnamese government was still stubborn enough to label it a branch of socialism. Under Doi Moi, the exportation of goods such as rice, fibre plants, peanuts, corn, sweet potatoes, beans, cotton, jute, coffee, tea, sugarcane, timber, fish and shrimp and the export of oil and gas was allowed, this had a very positive effect on the economy. Doi Moi meant that government collectivization was disbanded and private ownership was allowed. There was also a reduction in the amount of bureaucracy which resulted in a boom for the rice production, as many farmers didn’t have to worry about signing a large amount of paper-work to open up a farm.
Foreign Investment
Under Doi Moi foreign investment was allowed, mostly in the form of industrial development as well as hotel and resort development as well as infrastructure, this provided jobs for many people in Vietnam. Foreign investment into farming and agriculture lead to more profits for the government, ultimately increasing the economy. The FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) graph below shows the increase in foreign investment into the country.
This graph shows the increase in foreign investment in Vietnam
This increase in foreign investment is due to the fact that the foreign investors are getting labour for their industries in Vietnam in the form of the Vietnamese population, and they are also getting the majority of money from exporting the goods produced. The people working in these industries are taxed by the government, this is how foreign investment is beneficial for the Vietnamese government and ultimately for Vietnam.
Change is Vietnam 