industries, including coal, cement, steel, and paper, reported large
stockpiles of inventory and tough competition from more efficient
foreign producers. Vietnam's trade deficit widened to $4 billion in
1996, up over 80% from a year ago. While disbursements of aid and
foreign direct investment have risen, they are not large enough to
finance the rapid increase in imports and it is widely believed that
Vietnam may be using short-term trade credits to bridge the gap - a
risky strategy that could result in a foreign exchange crunch during
1997. Meanwhile, Vietnamese authorities continue to move very slowly
toward implementing the structural reforms needed to revitalize the
economy and produce more competitive, export-driven industries.
Privatization of state enterprises remains bogged down in political
controversy, while the country's dynamic private sector is denied both
financing and access to markets. Reform of the banking sector is
proceeding slowly, raising concerns that the country will be unable to
tap sufficient domestic savings to maintain current high levels of
growth. Administrative and legal barriers are also causing costly
delays for foreign investors and are raising similar doubts about
Vietnam's ability to maintain the inflow of foreign capital.
Ideological bias in favor of state intervention and control of the
economy is slowing progress toward a more liberalized investment
environment.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $108.7 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 9.4% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,470 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 28%
industry: 28%
services: 44% (1996 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 4.5% (1996)

Labor force:
total: 32.7 million
by occupation: agriculture 65%, industry and services 35% (1990 est.)

Unemployment rate: 25% (1995 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $4.67 billion
expenditures: $5 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.36
billion (1995 est.)

Industries: food processing, garments, shoes, machine building,
mining, cement, chemical fertilizer, glass, tires, oil

Industrial production growth rate: 14% (1996 est.)

Electricity - capacity: 5.32 million kW (1994)

Electricity - production: 11.78 billion kWh (1994)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 154 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products: paddy rice, corn, potatoes, rubber, soybeans,
coffee, tea, bananas; poultry, pigs; fish

Export