Vietnam

Vietnam Net - E | English | News | Jan. 23, 2026 | UndeterminedEconomic Growth

Vietnam’s economy is entering a new phase described as “decompression,” characterized by the release of accumulated energy hindered by long-standing bottlenecks in development. This phase is about freeing the economy from excessive constraints to foster experimentation, creativity, and natural growth. The State must also be “decompressed” by removing bureaucratic barriers and restoring public trust to enable businesses to thrive. This requires fundamental changes in administrative operations rather than minor procedural adjustments.

A significant challenge identified is the undervaluation of the domestic sector compared to foreign-invested enterprises (FDIs), which benefit from structural advantages like lower financing costs and a more stable business environment. Equalizing conditions for domestic firms, especially by reducing interest rates and administrative burdens, is crucial for their growth and competitiveness. The government aims to create a fairer business environment supporting both domestic and foreign enterprises, moving towards a national investment strategy emphasizing large-scale projects and mobilizing mostly private capital to drive sustained economic growth.

Key growth opportunities include unblocking stalled projects and eliminating procedural inefficiencies to prevent new bottlenecks from arising. Comprehensive transport infrastructure development is also prioritized to reduce logistics costs, which currently represent 17-18% of GDP. However, capital injection must be accompanied by improved supporting conditions, such as better regulatory frameworks and governance, to avoid ineffective investments.

Empowering local authorities and businesses with innovation incentives is important but must be paired with protection mechanisms to ensure those who take risks are supported and not penalized. Addressing high interest rates remains critical; lowering and stabilizing rates over the long term will allow domestic businesses to compete more effectively. Proposed solutions include state-backed subsidies on lending rates with conditional enforcement for broad application and gradual phasing out aligned with economic strength, requiring strong political will and new mechanisms.

Structural bottlenecks to medium-term growth include the treatment of land, capital access, and human resources. Land policy must shift from treating land as a territorial asset to a market resource with properly defined property rights to avoid speculative distortions. Capital markets need to better support productive private investment rather than speculative activity. Human capital development calls for radical education reform, moving towards fostering creativity, independent thinking, and the integration of human and artificial intelligence to enhance innovation and competitiveness in the global economy.

Overall, Vietnam’s economic reform phase focuses on unlocking growth potential through systemic decompression, equalizing business conditions, strategic investments, infrastructure improvements, and education transformation to secure sustainable development in the coming years.

Năm 2026, tăng trưởng GDP phấn đấu từ 10% trở lên

Dantri | Local Language | News | Jan. 23, 2026 | UndeterminedEconomic Growth

The Government has issued Resolution No. 01 outlining the main tasks and measures to implement the Socio-Economic Development Plan and state budget estimates for 2026. Despite numerous challenges in 2025 such as natural disasters and global uncertainties, the socio-economic situation achieved significant results, fostering rapid and sustainable development. The year 2026 is critical, marking the start of a new development phase with the 14th Party Congress and elections for the 16th National Assembly, and the commencement of the 2026-2030 five-year plan aiming for double-digit GDP growth.

For 2026, the Government targets GDP growth of 10% or more while maintaining macroeconomic stability, controlling inflation, and ensuring fiscal balance. It has identified 12 key task groups including comprehensive institutional reform, legal improvements, administrative simplification, and enhancing the business environment. Priority will continue on growth drivers such as investment, consumption, and exports, alongside new growth engines, while addressing public debt and budget deficits within limits.

The Government emphasizes fundamental transformation of the growth model toward productivity and innovation, focusing on human resource quality, science and technology, digital transformation, and green economy restructuring. Infrastructure development, including transport, energy, and digital infrastructure, is a priority to strengthen national competitiveness. Special attention is given to breakthroughs in digital transformation, advanced technology sectors like semiconductors and AI, and improving overall societal skills.

The socio-economic development strategy also includes enhancing cultural, social progress, climate adaptation, disaster prevention, and improving urbanization and regional linkages. International integration efforts will continue to maintain a stable environment conducive to development and improve Vietnam’s global standing.

Authorities are tasked with preparing detailed quarterly and annual growth scenarios across sectors and industries and updating local growth targets based on new resources, drivers, and capacities. These plans will be submitted to the Ministry of Finance for monitoring, with local governments reviewing and adjusting targets as necessary to align with the national growth objective.

Vietnam Net - E | English | News | Jan. 23, 2026 | Political Scandal or Corruption

At the 14th National Party Congress, Deputy Chief of the Central Inspection Committee Tran Van Ron reported significant progress during the 13th Party Congress term, noting that the Party’s inspection bodies handled an unprecedentedly broad and complex workload. They uncovered and resolved multi-layered violations across various sectors and localities that had previously caused public discontent, enforcing discipline with strictness and humanity, without exceptions or forbidden zones. Despite these achievements, Ron acknowledged ongoing challenges, including insufficient appreciation of inspection work among Party committees and weaknesses in self-checking and early violation detection.

Ron emphasized the importance of committed leadership, stating that effective inspection depends on top leaders taking personal responsibility and setting examples. He highlighted that discipline should protect the broader public interest, enforcing rules not merely to punish individuals but to strengthen governance by closing systemic loopholes. A key development during the 13th term was enhanced coordination between Party inspection, state audit, administrative inspection, and law enforcement, which enabled more decisive enforcement actions.

Looking forward to the 14th term, Ron called for bold reforms aiming to transform inspection into a central tool for political discipline and clean governance. This would involve focusing on prevention, early warning, and grassroots power control, tightening anti-corruption rules, and integrating them into public administration to structurally deter misconduct. Additionally, inspection agencies will pursue digital transformation to enable real-time, data-driven oversight, enhancing transparency and accountability through reforms in asset and income declarations. The ultimate goal is to develop a generation of inspectors who are morally upright, professionally skilled, and institutionally empowered to uphold Party discipline and integrity.