Currently, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan (China) are known as the four Asian tigers in economic development. Vietnam is showing similar signs when looking at the process of becoming the Asian tiger of these countries.
According to Bloomberg , from 1960 to 1990, the average growth of the four Asian tigers reached about 6%/year, maintaining a long-term sustainable growth rate. This sustained growth rate is the basis for each economy to develop into industrialized economies and become fully developed regions.
Since 1986, Vietnam’s growth has always been in the group of countries with the leading growth rates in the world. In the period 1986 – 2019, the average growth rate reached 6.55%/year.
In 2020 – 2021, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam still has positive growth while many countries around the world have negative growth. Specifically, in 2020 and 2021, Vietnam’s growth will reach 2.9% and 2.58%, respectively.
Not only having outstanding economic growth, Vietnam also succeeded in improving GDP per capita. According to the World Bank (WB), Vietnam is a successful country in economic reform.
From 2002 to 2021, GDP per capita was ranked 160/195 (US$547 in 2002), increased 3.7 times to nearly US$3,743. Along with that, the poverty rate dropped sharply from more than 32% in 2011 to less than 2.23% in 2021.
Based on Vietnam’s post-pandemic economic recovery efforts, Business Times magazine once affirmed that, thanks to the strong recovery speed after the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and acceleration in 2022, Vietnam will completely worthy of the title “Asia’s new tiger”.
In particular, Business Times said that Vietnam is gradually becoming Asia’s new tiger thanks to the explosion of the wealthy class. Everything from gilded hotels, to luxury apartments to flashy sports cars, shows that the rise of the super-rich in Vietnam is stronger than ever.
When Vietnam’s economy was newly developed, people switched from bicycles to motorbikes. And in recent years, cars are appearing more on the streets of Vietnam. Vietnam has even started to produce its own cars with the VinFast brand, a subsidiary of the country’s largest conglomerate Vingroup.
Vietnam is funding startups more and more. Vietnam has long been known as the software outsourcing center of Southeast Asia, where high-skilled labor and high wages are attractive spots for technology companies to use as a platform for development.
In particular, the explosion of renewable energy is also a factor that helps Vietnam develop on the path to becoming Asia’s new tiger. Vietnam is the country with the largest solar power capacity in Southeast Asia with 16.6 gigawatts in 2020.
Currently, government incentives are the main driver of this renewable energy transition, with the FIT tariff playing an important role in promoting the solar industry in Vietnam.
Besides signs of growth, the four Asian tigers also clearly represent the rapid industrialization of economic development. According to Investopedia , import-substituting industrialization was the initial factor leading to the economic success of the four Asian tigers.
Industrialization took place after the four economies invested heavily in improving labor productivity. Since then, these economies have contributed to poverty reduction and laid the foundation for rapid industrialization.
Currently, Vietnam has risen to become one of the countries with a relatively high level of globally competitive industry (CIP), belonging to the group of countries with high average industrial competitiveness. . In 2018, Vietnam ranked 44th in the world according to UNIDO’s assessment.
Industry is the industry with the highest growth rate among the national economic sectors, contributing about 30% of GDP and becoming the main export industry of the country. In particular, industry also contributed to bringing Vietnam to the 22nd position of the world’s largest exporting country in 2018.
A number of priority industries and spearhead industries are strategically oriented with the leadership of a number of large industrial enterprises such as electronics, textiles, leather and footwear, etc.
Along with that, according to Investopedia , the Asian tigers once created a market with many favorable conditions for exports and mainly free trade. This is called export-oriented industrialization. Thanks to that, the economy of the 4 Asian tigers has achieved the current outstanding development.
In fact, Vietnam is also very focused on exports. Specifically, in 2021, Vietnam overcame difficulties and finished spectacularly in the field of import and export, reaching a record number of USD 668.54 billion, up 22.6% compared to 2020.
According to the latest report of market research company IHS Markit (UK), in January 2022, Vietnam’s manufacturing industry recorded a sharp increase in output and orders globally.
In addition, the world’s leading credit rating agency Fitch Ratings forecasts that Vietnam’s export sector will continue to outperform the region, benefiting from cost competitiveness and some major trade agreements.
Source: CafeF
Source: Vietnam Insider