Knowledge & Innovation
This category covers advancements in technology, education, and research, including startups, AI, fintech, and digital transformation. It highlights government policies on innovation, investment in R&D, and digital economy trends. As economies transition to knowledge-based industries, this section explores emerging technologies, automation, AI, and blockchain, showcasing how businesses and policymakers adapt to rapid innovation.
Cryptocurrency: Vietnam tax on digital assets feasible, but legal clarity needed
In an opinion piece in the Vietnam Investment Review, Nguyen Tien Hoa, Senior Partner at ASL Law, has argued that taxing crypto assets in Vietnam is legally feasible but requires foundational legal clarity and a phased implementation.
Trade: Vietnam’s import-export turnover up 15.7 percent year-to-date, surplus narrows
Vietnam’s April trade turnover reached US$74.32 billion, down 1.4 percent from March, up 21.3 percent year-on-year, according to the latest data from the National Office of Statistics. Year to date, total trade reached US$276.89, up 15.7 percent year-on-year.
Inflation: Vietnam’s CPI up 3.2 percent year-to-date in April 2025
Vietnam’s April 2025 CPI rose 0.07 percent month-on-month and 3.12 percent year-on-year and was up 1.37 percent since December 2024, according to the latest data from the National Office of Statistics. Year-to-date CPI (Jan–Apr) also increased 3.2 percent with core inflation up 0.21 percent month-on-month and 3.05 percent year to date.
Economy: Vietnam PM holds steady on 8 percent growth target despite US tariff threat
In a report delivered to the National Assembly, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has outlined a sweeping economic agenda centred on sustaining growth, diversifying markets, and negotiating a resolution to the proposed US “reciprocal” tariffs. He has said the government intends to maintain its growth target of 8 percent for 2025, even as it faces rising trade tensions with the United States.
Technology: Vietnam’s science and technology sector sees over US$235 million in March FDI commitments
The professional, scientific and technological activities sector attracted US$235.95 million in foreign direct investment in March, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade. This included 46 new projects worth just US$12 million, indicating modest initial capital commitments.
Vietnam News Roundup: April 25 to May 1
This week’s Vietnam news roundup covers Vietnam’s response to the proposed 46 percent US tariff, VinFast’s latest earnings, World Bank forecasts, SBV market activity, and more.
Marx to the Market: A Brief History of Vietnam’s Post-Reunification Economic Development
Fifty years ago this month, the citizens of Ho Chi Minh City were watching the skies as US military helicopters evacuated the last of their personnel. Conversely, this month, in 2025, the citizens of Ho Chi Minh City looking skyward are unlikely to see US helicopters and instead more likely to see the VN Pay logo made up of tens of hundreds of drones. An advertisement for a banking and finance app to be sure, this is also largely emblematic of just how far Vietnam’s economic ideology has shifted in the last 50 years.
Vietnam News Roundup: April 18 to April 24
This week’s Vietnam news roundup covers the latest: updates in the FW Aviation vs VietJet UK court case, rising bad debt data, a new factory for Nestle, skyrocketing gold prices, State Bank open market operations, and more…
Vietnam News Roundup: April 11 to April 17
This week’s Vietnam news roundup covers the latest: EU trade remedies against Vietnamese steel, how industry is responding to the Trump Tariff turmoil, car sales data, electricity output, foreign trader activity, State Bank open market operations, and more…
Food services prices in Vietnam rise 3.78 percent year-on-year in Q1 2025
Vietnam’s food and food services consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.78 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared to Q1 2024, with prices up 3.83 percent year-on-year in March alone, according to the latest CPI tracker.
China warns against trade wars as Xi calls for deeper Vietnam economic ties
Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned that “trade war and tariff war will produce no winner,” while calling for stronger China–Vietnam economic cooperation and a united stand against protectionism, in a statement posted on Vietnam’s Nhan Dan news site, amid a state visit to Hanoi by the Chinese leader. Whereas the bulk of the statement was stock standard for high level talks between the two countries, there were a few timely points made on trade, including:
Vietnam News Roundup: April 4 to April 10
This week’s Vietnam news roundup covers the latest: responses to US tariffs, State Bank open market operations, GDP and CPI numbers from the first quarter of 2025, the increase in the average income, and more…
ADB maintains strong growth forecast for Vietnam but flags structural risks: Report
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has maintained its 2025 GDP growth forecast for Vietnam at 6.0 percent, citing strong manufacturing, resilient domestic consumption, and increased public investment, according to its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) April 2024: Vietnam. Notably the report appears to have been compiled and completed prior to the tariff announcement made last week.
Vietnam’s GDP grows 6.93 percent in Q1 2025, highest first-quarter rate since 2020
Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 6.93 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, surpassing the quarterly target of 6.5–7.0 percent, according to data from the General Statistics Office. While the result fell short of the full-year 8 percent goal, it reflects strong growth amid global uncertainties.
Vietnam’s CPI up 3.22 percent year-on-year in Q1 2025
Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI) rose by 3.22 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office. Core inflation for the quarter came in slightly lower at 3.01 percent.
Vietnam News Roundup: March 28 to April 3
This week’s Vietnam news roundup covers US tariffs, electricity efficiency, shared EV charging station technology policy, Novaland’s latest audit, and more…
Trump’s 46% tariff on Vietnam imports shocks businesses, rattles markets
President Donald Trump has announced a sweeping 46 percent import tariff on goods from Vietnam, citing trade imbalances and currency manipulation. Vietnam’s current average MFN tariff rate is 9.4 percent, significantly higher than the U.S. average of 3.3 percent, according to a White House press release. The U.S. also criticised Vietnam for restricting imports of remanufactured goods.
Could Vietnam Benefit From a Bit of Polish ‘Shock Therapy’?
Vietnam wants to develop fast but this will require significant economic reforms and for those reforms to be implemented quickly. But whereas there is a tendency to look regionally for economic models to emulate, it might also be worth looking to the ex-Soviet Eastern European states, like Poland, which went from a low-income to high-income economy in only a few decades. With this in mind, this article looks at what Poland did that allowed for such a rapid change in its fortunes and whether or not Vietnam can do the same.
Vietnam News Roundup: March 21 to March 27
This week’s Vietnam news roundup covers a possible reduction to MFN tariffs, Starlink satellite services pilot run approval, increased foreign ownership limits for some banks, the latest State Bank open market operations, and more…
Vietnam to roll back some environment protection obligations for small business
Vietnam is refining its Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy to ease compliance for small businesses. This includes removing EPR obligations from manufacturers and importers of packaging for export, temporary import and re-export, or for research and testing purposes and companies with annual packaging sales revenue under VND 30 billion (US$78 million), VN Economy is reporting.
In today’s Vietnam news: GS TL on AI, Saigon Economic Times last issue, Fuel prices cut, Vinhomes issuing more bonds, Counterfeit Korean cosmetics store,
In today’s Vietnam news: Power supply imports, Hanoi boulevard project protests, Antidumping duties coming for boxes, Maersk container terminal project Hanoi, Vinpearl foreign investment,
In today’s Vietnam news: Credit limits removed for some major projects, Estonian web security company market entry, Vingroup’s Vuong becomes major shareholder LP Bank,
This is an interview with Chris Walker, a Vietnam Sourcing Expert with Vietnam Factory Tours how rising oil prices and the Middle East crisis are
This is an interview with John Gardner, CEO and Founding Partner, at Optimum Hospitality in Ho Chi Minh City. It covers fuel price impacts on:
This is an interview with Dr Nuno F. Ribeiro, Associate Professor, International Tourism & Hospitality Management at Copenhagen Business College, formerly of RMIT Vietnam. It