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Vietnam’s Fragile Middle Class
DW, 17 Dec, 2012 A new middle class emerged for the first time in Vietnam in the 1990s. It has won a few freedoms, but remains fragile. Now, the global economic crisis threatens to undo the achievements. “Supermarket, supermarket, supermarket” cries Mai Chi, the four-year-old daughter of Tuyen and Lien, as she bounces up and…
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Empty Office Towers Show Dreams Turned to Rubble
By Bloomberg News – Nov 26, 2012 3:09 AM ET From afar, the gleaming metal and glass edifices of Hanoi’s EVN Tower illustrate Vietnam’s rapid economic development. Up close, the rubble-strewn entrance and missing windows tell another story: one of loose lending and property speculation that now hangs over the country’s banks. State-run monopoly Vietnam…
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The four sectors committing corruption most
Last update 21/11/2012 13:28:43 (GMT+7) VietNamNet Bridge – According to the survey released by the Government Inspectorate and the World Bank on November 20, the four sectors that are judged to commit corruption the most include traffic police, land management, customs and construction. The survey entitled “Corruption from the perspective of the people, businesses and…
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Vietnam’s Search for Stability
By Alexander L. Vuving October 25, 2012 On October 15, Vietnam’s Communist Party concluded its longest meeting ever, admitting big mistakes in preventing and remedying corruption. Central to the meeting’s discussions was the mismanagement and nepotism committed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who eventually escaped punishment. The half measures encapsulate the entrenched nature of corruption…
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Vietnam’s long road to SOE reform
October 17, 2012 From Frances Yoon Hanoi has announced plans to restructure its bloated state-owned enterprises by selling off assets or listing them on the stock exchange. But it most needs to root out the deep-seated cronyism that permeates these companies and the banking sector. Frances Yoon reports. Vietnam is stumbling under a mountain of…
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Vietnam’s leadership: WE FORGIVE US
The Economist Oct 16th 2012, 11:29 by L.H. | HO CHI MINH CITY AT THE weekend a court in Ho Chi Minh City fined a mischievous drunk for causing public disorder while under the influence of alcohol. Pham Van Binh, a 43-year-old cycle-rickshaw puller, had climbed the bronze statue of General Tran Nguyen Han, a…
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A TIGER AT BAY
The Economist With little prospect of meaningful reform, the economy could get even shakier Sep 15th 2012 | HANOI | from the print edition FOR A Communist leadership that prides itself on bringing political and economic stability to its 90m subjects, the past few weeks in Vietnam must have seemed like a nightmare. There have…
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Rogue blogs signal tension as Vietnam tries to fix economic woes
Stuart Grudgings Reuters4:06 p.m. CDT, October 9, 2012 (Reuters) – When one of Vietnam’s richest and best-connected bankers was arrested in August, a move that sent the country’s stock market tumbling, a little-known blog broke the news hours ahead of state media. It was the first sign that the Quan Lam Bao website could be…
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From Tiger to Pussycat: How Vietnam’s Economy Got Off Track
Newsweek, October 1, 2012 Vietnam’s economy was promising. How the country got off track. The old quarter in Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital. (Christophe Archambault / AFP-Getty Images) Almost exactly two years ago this week, Christine Gregoire, the governor of the U.S. state of Washington, was in Vietnam handing out french fries made from potatoes grown in…
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Moody’s Cuts Vietnam’s Credit Rating
By: RFA September 29, 2012 Global ratings agency Moody’s on Friday lowered its credit rating for Vietnam, saying the government faced an “elevated risk” of bailing out the nation’s banks, which are mired in toxic debt. Vietnam is expected to be hit by lower medium-term economic growth stemming from its banking problems, Moody’s Investors Service…
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