Vietnam : economic reforms in a transitional economy.

Abstract

The research project represents a contribution to the growing literature on the

economic reform experience of the Socialist Republic ofVietnam for the period 1986-

1995. It presents a framework for understanding the challenges the country faces and

how she surmounts the problems associated with her search for economic

transformation. Vietnam’s economy has been fundamentally changed since the

initiation of the 1986 Doi Moi (renovation) reform programme. It is moving from a

centrally planned system based on socialist principles to a multi-sector market-oriented

economy.

Vietnam’s experience took place in the wake of an economic revival in Asia and the

collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Her reforms

share many parallels to those occurring in many Asian Socialist economies, the best

known being China. In spite of the termination of Soviet aid, the U.S. trade embargo

and the absence of financial assistance from the multilateral aid institutions, Vietnam

continued to sustain economic growth. The magnitude and direction of the reforms

have thus led to the belief that Vietnam could well emerge as the next Asian Tiger in

the near future.