Worried foreign business groups warned yesterday that Vietnam, a darling of foreign investors until a year ago, now faces "a perfect storm" of challenges amid the global economic turmoil.
The communist government must drive forward long-stalled reforms or risk dropping further behind its Asian competitors, major foreign chambers of commerce warned at the Vietnam Business Forum (VBF) conference in Hanoi.
"Economic news across the world is almost uniformly bad," said Michael Pease, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam.
"The availability of debt and equity for investment into Vietnam has shrunk dramatically over the past few months. There is entrenched pessimism about the prospects of many announced projects moving forward to completion."
Lawyer Fred Burke, delivering the VBF report on the crucial manufacturing sector, warned that Vietnam's manufacturing sector was just beginning to feel the effects of the global financial meltdown.
"Based on an export-led growth model, our manufacturers and other exporters are confronting a 'perfect storm' of external challenges," he told the group of several hundred business and Vietnamese government officials.
Key threats for the developing economy, he said, included a drastic drop in demand in major export markets for manufactured goods and plummeting world prices of commodities and crude oil, which Vietnam exports.
"The furniture and electronics industries have been the first hit, but even garments and footwear and sea products cannot be far behind as global demand continues to weaken," said Burke, of law firm Baker and McKenzie.
Burke warned of the risk of "serious foreign exchange shortages" in coming months as foreign investment projects are delayed or cancelled, tourism drops off and overseas Vietnamese workers send home less money.
The communist government must drive forward long-stalled reforms or risk dropping further behind its Asian competitors, major foreign chambers of commerce warned at the Vietnam Business Forum (VBF) conference in Hanoi.
"Economic news across the world is almost uniformly bad," said Michael Pease, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam.
"The availability of debt and equity for investment into Vietnam has shrunk dramatically over the past few months. There is entrenched pessimism about the prospects of many announced projects moving forward to completion."
Lawyer Fred Burke, delivering the VBF report on the crucial manufacturing sector, warned that Vietnam's manufacturing sector was just beginning to feel the effects of the global financial meltdown.
"Based on an export-led growth model, our manufacturers and other exporters are confronting a 'perfect storm' of external challenges," he told the group of several hundred business and Vietnamese government officials.
Key threats for the developing economy, he said, included a drastic drop in demand in major export markets for manufactured goods and plummeting world prices of commodities and crude oil, which Vietnam exports.
"The furniture and electronics industries have been the first hit, but even garments and footwear and sea products cannot be far behind as global demand continues to weaken," said Burke, of law firm Baker and McKenzie.
Burke warned of the risk of "serious foreign exchange shortages" in coming months as foreign investment projects are delayed or cancelled, tourism drops off and overseas Vietnamese workers send home less money.
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