Taking Stock, June 2010 : An Update on Vietnam's Recent Economic Development
Vietnam has navigated the global crisis better than many other countries. GDP grew by 5.3 percent in 2009, accelerating to 6.9 percent in the last quarter of the year. At 5.8 percent, the figure for the first quarter of 2010 was less impressive, bu...
Main Authors: | , |
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Format: | Report |
Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
World Bank, Hanoi
2017
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/677291468329411386/Taking-stock-an-update-on-Vietnams-recent-economic-developments http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27890 |
Summary: | Vietnam has navigated the global crisis
better than many other countries. GDP grew by 5.3 percent in
2009, accelerating to 6.9 percent in the last quarter of the
year. At 5.8 percent, the figure for the first quarter of
2010 was less impressive, but claims that growth has slowed
down are most probably unwarranted. Exports declined in
2009, for the first time since the beginning of economic
reforms, but their decline was smaller than in other
countries of the region. By now export growth is converging
back to the 30 percent annual growth rate observed before
the crisis. Inflation, which had reached 19.9 percent in
2008, was down to 6.5 percent in 2009. While there were some
worrying signs of inflation acceleration in late 2009 and
early 2010, by now the monthly increase of the Consumer
Price Index (CPI) is again moderate. And as in previous
years, there were no banking crises despite the continuation
of macroeconomic turbulence. More generally, lack of clarity
by markets forces the government to overshoot in its policy
reactions. Because markets are not sure to understand what
the government is up to, they need to see very strong action
in order to be convinced that the right course of action has
been taken. As a result, Vietnam has had to go through
dramatic shifts in the policy stance as circumstances
changed. The stabilization policies of 2008 effectively
'killed' the real estate bubble and brought
inflation rates to zero in just a few months, but such speed
took a toll on economic activity. The stimulus policies of
2009 were equally strong and determined, but they ended up
putting too much pressure on international reserves. With
more information disclosure and better communication, policy
shifts could perhaps be less extreme. Combined with stronger
macroeconomic management, it should be possible for Vietnam
to gradually free itself from the 'stop-and-go'
cycle that has characterized macroeconomic policies over the
last three years. |
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