Indochina economies on the path to reform and liberalisation

Indochina economies on the path to reform and liberalisation

Indochina economies on the path to reform and liberalisation

Indochina economies on the path to reform and liberalisation

IN many ways, the Indochina region comprising Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar is akin to an emerging giant.

Racked by decades of civil war, military rule and socialism, the region has, for the longest time, been a political and economic outcast; its instability a bane to foreign investors and economic progress.

But these countries, led by Vietnam, have been quietly plotting a return to the world stage. Vietnam's gross domestic product (GDP), for instance, grew 8% annually between 1990 and 1997, and then 7% between 2000 and 2005, making it one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

The low base, of course, is one reason for this. Yet, Indochina remains on the margins of our imagination, drowned out by the din of its powerhouse neighbours China and India, and the ever-pressing woes of debt in the United States and Europe.

Indochina economies on the path to reform and liberalisation