World Bank: Vietnam faces opportunities for a bright future
25/2/16
After 70 years
since Vietnam’s Declaration of Independence, 40 years since reunification, and 30
years from the launch of Doi Moi reforms, which catapulted the nation from the
ranks of the world’s poorest to one of the great development success stories. Now,
Vietnam’s achievements have been acknowledged worldwide. On February 23th 2016,
World Bank issued its report on Vietnam’s economic fairy tale, the Vietnam 2035
report. Let see what one of the most credited financial organization said about
Vietnam’s growth.
The Vietnam
2035 report, themed “toward prosperity creativity, equity
and democracy”, suggests that Vietnam foster private sector
competitiveness, promote social inclusion and bolster the state’s effectiveness
to climb up the economic ladder into a higher bracket.
World Bank
President Jim Yong Kim said in the last 30 years, Vietnam has become one of the
world’s great development success stories, rising from the ranks of the poorest
countries. Vietnam’s
development achievements over the last 25 years are remarkable. Over this
period, the lives of the Vietnamese people have changed dramatically. We have
seen economic growth averaging nearly 7 percent, which enabled Vietnam, one of
the world’s poorest countries in the 1980s, to leapfrog to middle-income status
in a single generation. In an especially remarkable achievement, Vietnam has
reduced extreme poverty from 50 percent about 25 years ago to just 3 percent
today.
Of course, critical
ingredients of success have been visionary leaders, a sense of shared societal
purpose, and a focus on the future. Starting in the late 1980s, these elements
were fused with the embrace of markets and the global economy, setting the
nation on the path to becoming the middle-income country that it is today,
raising tens of millions of people out of poverty. Energized by past success
but by no means content, Vietnam now aspires, by the year 2035, to modernity,
industrialization, and a higher quality of life – aspirations that stand on
three major pillars: economic prosperity, balanced with environmental
sustainability; equity and social inclusion; and state capacity and
accountability. The Vietnam 2035 report – a joint undertaking by experts from
Vietnam and the World Bank – evaluates Vietnam’s possibilities and options in
this endeavor.
The Vietnam
2035 report identifies what a
successful Vietnam could look like in less than 20 years, and the institutional
and policy reforms that are needed to get there.
Vietnam’s own
aspirations for 2035 are written in its Constitution, which sets the goal of “a
prosperous people and a strong, democratic, equitable, and civilized
country.” Embedded in this is an expectation that by 2035, Vietnam will
be a modern and industrialized nation moving rapidly toward this goal. These
aspirations stand on three pillars: One, to balance economic prosperity with
environmental sustainability; two, to promote equity and social inclusion; and
three, to bolster the state’s capacity and accountability.
The rapid growth
needed to achieve these aspirations will be realized only if productivity
growth accelerates and if the environmental impacts are fully addressed.
Productivity growth will benefit from measures to enhance the competitiveness
of domestic enterprises, reap the benefits of urban agglomeration, and nurture
a creative and innovation-led economy.
Maintaining
Vietnam’s record on equity and social inclusion will require that assistance is
targeted to marginalized groups -- the ethnic minorities in particular -- and
that services are effectively delivered to an aging and urbanizing middle-class
society. And to fulfill the country’s aspirations, the institutions of
governance will need to become modern, transparent, and fully rooted in the
rule of law.
Challenges,
of course, remain. Labor productivity growth has been declining for over a
decade, reflecting weaknesses in the domestic enterprise sector. Stresses on
the environment are intensifying and could hurt the sustainability of economic
growth. Some marginalized groups are not benefitting from Vietnam’s economic
growth. And the institutions of governance are struggling to keep up with the
demands of a dynamic market economy and the aspirations of a growing middle class.
But we believe
this report lays out a path to address those challenges and will help the
country achieve its goals for greater and more inclusive economic growth. Vietnam is at a turning point of reform and development.
We face significant opportunities, but also big challenges. To reach our goal
of a becoming a prosperous, creative, equal and democratic Vietnam, our only
choice is to implement the reforms recommended by the Vietnam 2035 report.
Another benefit
can also be seen. Many countries can learn from Vietnam’s past achievements as
well as from its policy decisions in the years ahead. Vietnam’s lessons
include the importance of embracing markets and leveraging the opportunities of
global integration; a strong and early emphasis on development of human
capital; and making strategic use of international commitments to usher in
politically difficult structural reforms./.
All comments [ 11 ]
Vietnam needs to foster private sector competitiveness, promote social inclusion and bolster the state’s effectiveness to climb up the economic ladder into a higher bracket.
In the last 30 years, Vietnam has become one of the world’s great development success stories, rising from the ranks of the poorest countries.
The government should focus on three areas: improving productivity and private-sector competitiveness, promoting equity and social inclusion and improving public sector effectiveness.
Improvements in productivity, environmental protection and economic innovation can help Vietnam maintain high levels of growth.
It will be critically important to remove barriers that exclude marginalized groups and deliver quality public services to an aging and urbanizing middle-class.
Vietnam should take steps to strengthen the economy and financial sector, with a focus on more effective regulation, protection of property rights and enforcement of competition policies.
With the achievements already made, a long-term vision, intensive international integration, and efforts made by each citizen, Viet Nam would make even greater strides in the future.
Viet Nam has become one of the world's great development success stories.
While congratulating Viet Nam on the success of the 12th National Party Congress, the WB Group President valued Viet Nam's efforts in stablising its macro-economy, affirming that the country's orientation to build a socialism-oriented economy is a judicious and suitable strategy.
Viet Nam has a strong aspiration, which is to become a modern industrialised country toward prosperity, creativity, equality and democracy.
The Doi Moi economic reforms of the late 1980s helped the country move away from its centrally planned economy and toward globally oriented market economy.
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