Often likened to the locomotive that determines the economy’s speed and direction, Vietnam’s private sector, after many years of relatively solid growth, is now showing signs of losing steam. Identifying and addressing the bottlenecks has become an important task as Vietnam sets ambitious targets for the next 20 years. A picture of contrast In developed countries, the driving force behind construction, innovation, and sustainable economic maturity lies in the private sector. As Vietnam pursues its goals of becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2045, it will be no exception. According to an Australian Government study (2014), the private sector creates 90% of jobs, finances more than 60% of investment in developing countries, and contributes over 80% to the state budget. Another study by the European Commission (2017) found that the private sector’s contribution to GDP and employment in developing countries was 84% and 90%, respectively. Vietnam’s private sector plays a much more modest role. According to the National Statistics Office, by 2024, the private sector accounted for 53.4% of total realized investment in society, contributed 43% of GDP, and employed 82.07% of the workforce. On the positive side, this shows that Vietnam’s private sector still […]