Vietnam Economic Times July, 06 2026

Dear readers,

The organizational model for Vietnam’s political system, which includes a three-tiered administrative system (with the district level abolished), has now been in operation for exactly a year, since July 1, 2025.

Addressing a national conference on July 1 in Hanoi to review the model, Party General Secretary and State President To Lam concluded that it must deliver new governance capacity, with decentralization matched by greater accountability, digital data supporting new management methods, and the restructured administrative system providing higher-quality public services for citizens and businesses.

His message clearly reflects the country’s development orientation in the new phase, with a streamlined organizational structure aimed at improving governance efficiency, reducing social costs, and creating a favorable environment for all stakeholders.

2026 is the first year of the 5-year socio-economic development plan (2026-2030), adopted by the 14th National Party Congress and with a prominent focus on posting annual double-digit growth throughout the 2026-2030 period.

The 2026 socio-economic development plan, together with the 5-year plan, is being implemented in the context of the three-tier government model being operated in a stable manner.

The model represents a fundamental advantage, enabling Vietnam’s economy to record a host of positive results in the first half of 2026, amid a volatile global economy and impacts from the military conflict in the Middle East, which pushed up oil prices and logistics costs globally.

Socio-economic data released on July 3 by the National Statistics Office under the Ministry of Finance paints a bright picture of Vietnam’s economy in the second quarter and the first half of the year, with the highlight being economic growth in the second quarter of 8.39 per cent; the highest second-quarter growth for 15 years, since 2011. As a result, overall GDP growth for the first half reached 8.18 per cent. Many other socio-economic indicators, such as investment attraction and disbursement (both domestic and foreign), import and export turnover, total retail sales of goods and services, the number of newly-established enterprises, and the number of tourist arrivals and total tourism service revenue, among others, also posted positive performance.

However, the growth rate in the first half fell short of requirements for reaching the double-digit target for the year as a whole, meaning that greater growth pressure will now be placed on the second half of the year. This is why, in Resolution No. 168/NQ-CP, issued on June 27, 2026, updating the growth scenario and key solutions in the remaining two quarters to achieve the 2026 target of 10 per cent or more while maintaining macro-economic stability, the government set a growth rate for the second half of 11.9 per cent.

To provide readers with the latest on the current state of the organizational model for the political system and the three-tiered government model after a year of operation, as well as socio-economic development in the second quarter and the first half of 2026, our Cover Story in this edition, along with the full text of the speech by Party General Secretary and State President To Lam at the conference, focuses on analyzing the socio-economic achievements recorded in the second quarter and the first half, while forecasting the economic outlook for the second half, with priority on the double-digit growth target for the year as a whole, as outlined by the 14th National Party Congress.

Warmest regards

Dr. CHU VAN LAM
CHAIRMAN OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD