Vietnam's Economy, After the Asian Economic Crisis

The year 1989 marked an important turning point in Vietnam: the market mechanism began to take the place of centrally-planned resource allocation. To secure sustainable economic growth at a high level, Vietnam needs further comprehensive reform towards a market economy. The paper argues that the Asian crisis should not be blamed for the recent slowing of the economy. It also raises some other questions, in particular whether the government is still trying to fit the market mechanism into a socialist model.