Asia | Vietnam's economy

The good pupil

Vietnam has become one of the fastest-growing countries in Asia

May 6th 2004|hanoi

IF FOREIGN investment is anything to go by, the nominally communist rulers of Vietnam have made their peace with capitalism. The country raked in foreign direct investment worth more than 8% of GDP last year: even more, proportionally, than China. After its oversized and overheating neighbour, Vietnam also boasts Asia's best-performing economy. It has grown by an average of 7.4% a year over the past decade and is likely to achieve a similar figure this year. Better yet, the boom has lifted many Vietnamese out of poverty. As recently as 1993, the World Bank considered 58% of the population poor. By 2002, that had fallen to 29%. Can Vietnam maintain this remarkable momentum?

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “The good pupil”