Vietnam's ambitions on display.

On July 22, 2005, the International Herald Tribune (Neuilly Cedex), citing information developed by Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that Vietnam missed its growth target for the first half of 2005 with GDP growing at only 7.6 percent.

Vietnam wants to show growth of 8.5 percent this year, and what missing its first half target means is that it will have to grow at an annual rate of 9.3 percent for the rest of 2005 to meet the 8.5 percent target. Critics say this is unrealistic.

Developing countries such as Vietnam need high rates of growth to even make a dent in the rate of abject poverty. Vietnam's rate is close to 30 percent. Though the definition of poverty varies, it is generally means those living on less than US$1.00 a day.

Growth is difficult, too, because the level of real consumer spending is marginal. Officially, Vietnam shows a 1.9 percent unemployment rate. But 75 percent of the population is rural with 63 percent of its 43-million people working on farms. With its population of 82-million, Vietnam is about the size of Germany. It's bigger than every country in Africa with the exception of Nigeria, and bigger than every country in South America except Brazil. In terms of human resources, its potential is very much apparent. In land area, it's somewhat smaller than Finland, and slightly larger than Poland.