The Fourth Industrial Revolution has not only had deep impact on all aspects of life but also rapidly changed the way businesses create and distribute products and services as well as the interaction between the market and the State.

The real estate market, particularly in central Đà Nẵng city and the central region, has seen a slowdown after a “bubble” period.

Việt Nam’s Government has demonstrated its willpower to develop special economic zones (SEZs) which it hopes will spearhead the country’s growth. This issue has been high on the agenda in the face of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), at a time when Việt Nam is at a point where breakthrough institutional reform is necessary.

Despite accounting for some 98 per cent of the country’s enterprises, SMEs’ performance is still constrained mostly by little access to credit. 

A recent proposal by the Ministry of Finance to clear over VNĐ26.5 trillion (US$1.16 billion) of tax arrears, accounting for more than a third of all tax arrears and irrecoverable fines, has raised public concern about the fairness and transparency of handling tax debts.

Việt Nam’s securities market has a 25 per cent chance of being upgraded to the “emerging market” status from its current “frontier market” level by 2021, according to Võ Trí Thành, senior economist at the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM).

Statistics from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO) showed that the mining industry has posted a record slump since 2011, with the growth rate dropping by 7.1 per cent in 2017 and 4 per cent in 2016.

Foreign-invested pharmaceutical companies in Việt Nam and legal experts think there is room for administrative improvement regarding current policies on imports and distribution.

Việt Nam, immersed in the positive socio-economic achievements of 2017, started off 2018 on a good omen.

Despite concerns from economic experts about the undetermined scale and scope of Việt Nam’s undocumented market transactions, authorities are adamant that the illicit economy is under control and will soon be regulated heavily.