GDP growth: 5.2%

GDP per head: $3,780 (PPP: $11,430)

Inflation: 2.1%

Budget Balance (% GDP): - 4.8

Population: 98.2m

A new team will take over the ruling Communist Party after the 13th National Congress
in early 2021, probably with Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the prime minister, becoming general
secretary. The transition will be smooth, and the government’s programme of economic
liberalisation will resume following the covid-19 interruption, including measures to
attract foreign direct investors and restructure state-owned firms. The economy will
slot back into its high-growth groove as the slowdown caused by the pandemic fades.

In Person

In a political set-up that shuns personality, let alone personality cults, Nguyen Xuan
Phuc, prime minister of Vietnam and one of the favourites to take over as general
secretary of the Communist Party, fits the bill to a tee. A seasoned administrator with a