A different perspective on Vietnam’s economy and doing business in Vietnam. Make sure to subscribe.
Key Challenges in Vietnam-US Trade Negotiations: Unpacked
Vietnam’s Private Sector Development Push: Unpacked
Vietnam’s Aviation Industry: State of Play 2025
Vietnam and the Middle Income Trap: Unpacked
Vietnam’s 8 Percent GDP Growth Target: Unpacked
Buy More, Sell Less: Tackling Vietnam’s Trade Surplus with the US
Is Vietnam the Next Asian Tiger Economy?
What Recent Traffic Reforms Say About Doing Business in Vietnam
Building An International Financial Centre in Vietnam: Unpacked
Vietnam’s Economy in 2024: A Brief Recap
What to Watch Now Google Has An Office in Vietnam
Does Vietnam Have a Private Consumption Problem Too?
The 8th Session of Vietnam’s National Assembly: Key Takeaways
Rethinking Financing Vietnam’s Clean Energy Transition
Vietnam’s New Social Media ID Regulations: Unpacked
Tag: policy
The Policy category covers government regulations, economic policies, trade agreements, and legislative updates. It explores public sector initiatives, business regulations, and global economic strategies, providing insights into how policies shape industries, trade, and investment opportunities.
Vietnam’s Revised Power Development Plan 8: A Missed Opportunity
Last week, the Government of Vietnam issued a Decision significantly revising the Power Development Plan 8 (PDP8). However, whereas this could have been an opportunity to redesign the PDP8 to align more closely with on-the-ground realities, this opportunity looks to have been missed.
Equitization of state-owned enterprises stalls as Vietnam looks set to miss 2025 targets
Despite a plan to equitize 30 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) during the 2023–2025 period, none have been equitized as of Q1 2025, raising concerns about the feasibility of Vietnam’s SOE reform targets, VN Economy is reporting. The plan had expected to raise VND 36.82 trillion (approx. US$1.47 billion) from equitizations.
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.
Vietnam considers cuts to import tariffs on range of ag. goods, resources
The Ministry of Finance is preparing a draft decree for the government that, if approved, will adjust Vietnam’s Most Favoured Nation (MFN) import tax rates down. This is at the request of the Prime Minister in response to “complex and unpredictable developments of the world’s geopolitical and economic situation” (READ: US tariff policy), Zing News is reporting.
Vietnam’s Private Sector Development Push: Unpacked
Last week, Vietnam’s relatively new General Secretary, To Lam, announced that he wanted to see Vietnam’s private sector expand to 70 percent of GDP by 2030. This is not a new concept but it has historically been somewhat of a struggle to realise. With this in mind, this article looks at Vietnam’s private sector development, why it has failed to break out, and what might be different this time around.
Human Resources in Vietnam: Ultimate Guide 2025
Vietnam’s human resources landscape is undergoing significant transformation as the country integrates more into the global economy. With rapid economic growth, companies are increasingly focused on strategic HR management to align with both local and international standards. With all of this in mind, this article looks at the key human resources related factors foreign firms should be aware of when operating in Vietnam.
Marine spatial plan to be presented to Vietnam National Assembly this week
The marine spatial plan is set to be the cornerstone for the development of Vietnam’s coastline. It has, however, been a long time coming. Work began on the marine spatial plan in 2018 but is still ongoing with a broad range of stakeholders from a diverse range of industries–defence, oil and gas, fisheries, and tourism to name but a few. Not to mention the geopolitical implications related to carving out a swathe of the South China Sea or East Sea as it is known in Vietnam. With this in mind, it may be a while longer too…
Vietnam PM suggests foreign workers for executive roles at state-owned enterprises
In the past the leaders of SOEs have always been members of the Communist Party of Vietnam which has significantly reduced the talent pool from which to draw–there are currently only a little over 5 million members of the party or around 5 percent of the population. This also leaves these positions open to being filled through political jostling and networking often connected to seniority and an individual’s position within the party more broadly, rather than merit and qualifications…
How the State Bank of Vietnam’s federal reserves are sold into the market
The State Bank of Vietnam–the SBV–has started selling its US dollar reserves in order to stop the local currency from devaluing further. According to this article from Tuoi Tre it is doing this by selling its dollars to banks that hold negative foreign currency positions. They are allowed to buy
Vietnam has started dipping into its US dollar reserves to prop up dong
The State Bank of Vietnam–the SBV–has begun spending US dollars in its foreign reserves to prevent the dong from sliding further against the US dollar Bloomberg is reporting. This follows on from a series of treasury bill issuances over the last month or so that have done very little to
Vietnam ambassador pressures US to remove ‘non-market economy’ label
Vietnam’s ambassador to the US, Nguyen Quoc Dzung, has said that including Vientam among the 12 countries in the world the US considers be non-market economies is unacceptable, Reuters has reported. He goes on to say that “So I think if the DOC (Department of Commerce) turned down that, I
Vietnam banks expected to lend US$82 billion this year
With a credit growth limit of 15 percent in place for 2024, Vietnam’s Banks are expected to issue loans to the tune of US$82 billion this year, VN Express is reporting. The publication also notes that credit growth for 2023 reached 13.71 percent in 2023. Food for thought: Credit growth
C.bank grants Vietnam’s banks 15 percent credit growth limit for 2024
The State Bank of Vietnam has set a 15 percent credit growth limit for Vietnam’s banks in 2024, Tuoi Tre is reporting. Note that this is higher than the usual 14 percent a year probably due to a failure to hit 14 percent in 2023. Credit growth mid-December was just
British diplomatic cables raise series of concerns about Vietnam’s JETP
British diplomatic cables seen by Political reveal a number of concerns about how Vietnam’s Just Energy Transition Partnership Resource Mobilisation Plan was put together, the publication reported December 8. Politico’s article has a number of choice quotes that reveal the development of the plan and its implementation may not be
Singapore bank predicts Vietnam interest rates steady in 2024
Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) has said it believes the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will keep rates on hold next year to boost growth, Vietnam Plus is reporting. The UOB predicted back in September that rates would be cut before the end of this year, but this has not
Government procurement floated as means to grow Vietnam supporting industries
VN Express is carrying an article about Vietnam’s supporting industries, or lack thereof, amid booming exports. Of interest, is one particular solution put forward by Pham Chanh Truc, former head of the Saigon Hi-tech Park. “The government has to create a market by ordering goods from domestic businesses. After some