Vietnam’s fast economic growth is quietly slipping, but no one cares
In central Ho Chi Minh City, financial hub of the fast-growing Vietnamese economy, 20-somethings with designer hairdos jump out of polished black sedans to pack the coffeehouses on every block and fill restaurants serving sushi and chicken in passion fruit sauce. It’s odd then that headline economic data points toward a slowing of Vietnam’s economic growth, an increasingly obvious indicator in Asia as China’s GDP expansion has eased since 2011. The government in Hanoi has targeted 6.7% growth this year, compared to 2015, but the Ministry of Planning and Investment says that could come in at 6.27% after a first half around 5.5%. A change in leadership in early 2016 further eased economic activity, while an early year drought and a dead fish pileup on the central coast due to pollution have also hit agriculture, which is 17% of the country’s $193.6 billion GDP.
