ABSTRACT
The 1980s and 1990s witnessed the transition of several developing countries from closed or semiclosed to open and market-driven economies. Economies pursuing outward-oriented development strategies have commonly been characterised by acceleration of economic growth and reduction in poverty. Vietnam has been amongst the economies that have achieved a remarkable reduction in poverty during their process of high economic growth (World Bank, 2005). In 1986, Vietnam embarked on a renovation programme, Doi Moi, to transform its centrally planned economy (CPE) into an open, market-driven economy. The economy achieved an annual average economic growth of 8 per cent in the 1990s and 7 per cent in the 2000s. The consistently high economic growth in the 1990s and 2000s appears to have contributed to the substantial decline in poverty at both aggregate and provincial levels. The rate of poverty dropped from 58.1 per cent to 37.4 per cent over the period 1993-1998 (Figure 3.1). By the end of 2010, Vietnam became a lower-middle-income country with a per capita income of approximately US$1,130 per annum.
