But while it may represent a pragmatic response to changing economic circumstances, Vietnam's experiment still lacks the theoretical underpinnings that have shored up free market doctrines and capitalist development patterns. On the face of it, Vietnam has officially embarked on a free market economy. But considerable state intervention remains, manifested in a package of laws and legislation that guarantees the state's substantial partnership in any foreign investment. Moreover, the one-party system, coupled with state subsidies on basic goods, education, medical treatment and much more, remains untouched. Foreign investment was encouraged and private enterprise tolerated.
Price stability is maintained through low budget deficits and limits on credit.
The exchange rate is stable and exports, particularly of industrial products, are encouraged. Though political control remains in the hands of the Communist Party the gaps separating the party, government and an increasingly vocal National Assembly are widening. Current interest in the Vietnamese experience is due in part to the fact that the country was largely closed to the outside world during the decade following national reunification in 1975. Only 6,000 tourists visited Vietnam in 1986. At the time, they saw one of the world's poorest countries, slipping behind its neighbours as the centrally planned economy failed to deliver economic growth.