VietNamNet Bridge – The price for a bowl of Pho (Vietnamese noodle) in early 2013, strangely, remains the same with that in 2011. It is still VND30,000 ($1.5). This is a rare thing because for many years earlier, the growth rate of the essential food services was relatively stable. However, it was the stability of the price growth, not the price.

Half of the people in rural areas still lack access to essential services such as clean water or toilets.

 

Perhaps it is most obvious for the prices of breakfast specialties in Hanoi.

For many years, in many reports of international organizations like the World Bank or the UNDP, and of course, some local ministries and agencies, Vietnam has always been regarded as one of the countries that obtained miraculous achievement in poverty reduction. At the last meeting of international donors after 20 years under this procedure (December 2012), it was reported that Vietnam’s per capita income increased from $ 200 in 1990 to $ 1,600 in 2012. The growth was eight times and it is a good thing.

A little closer, from the time Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), per capita income has increased by nearly $ 1,000, from more than $700 in 2006. After six years of formal integration into the global trade system, that is a significant increase, a promising potential to improve living standards and wealth accumulation.

With the extra income, it is assumed that the ordinary worker in 2012 can afford to pay for the living and the comforts of his life eight times respectively higher than about 15 years ago? Unfortunately, things are not that simple, especially for those with low income.

The bottom income group

To be fair, after nearly a decade of international economic integration, marked by the Vietnam-US Trade Agreement in the early 2000s, then the admission to the WTO, the living standards of the poor have improved certainly in many respects. Job opportunities open up many new directions. Urbanization boom also gives them quick access to the modern facilities such as mobile communications technology with the advanced recreational facilities.

However, if you look closely at the correlation of income and expenditure for the necessities of life itself, perhaps in recent years the life does not allowed the poor to dream of better living conditions than before.

Back with the story about the bowl of pho … the author uses it to illustrate the standard of living is because normally, Vietnamese people just eat "pho" when they have enough or more than enough rice.

Over ten years ago, the daily earnings of a building working was about VND15,000, which was enough to buy three bowls of pho. The figure today is VND90,000-100,000. In other words, the current wages of him is only allowed him to eat three bowls of pho, no more.
    
Maybe the worker will be unable to explain all the causes of this. Just know that, with the three-noodle-bowl income, while the worker has to pay many other costs of life, it is easy to understand that he will not select pho as his breakfast, even though he likes it very much.

Ironically, while Vietnam is among the countries with rapid growth in exports of agricultural and fishery products, the cost for food has become a burden for the people's lives. The increase of prices of daily necessities will inevitably affect other needs such as transportation, education, recreation, and finally the ability to accumulate wealth. The poor and low-income people of course will be the most vulnerable subjects.

The income and living standards of the poor are also different between regions, and particularly between urban and rural areas. Anyway, the urban poor still enjoy “public utilities,” such as recreational services, while the poor in the rural and mountainous areas still suffer great deprivation. According to the UNDP on the occasion of the 1,000 remaining days of the implementation of the millennium goals, half of the people in rural areas still lack access to essential services such as clean water or toilets. A bowl of pho for this group is more than a distant dream than a city builder.

The problem of revenue - cost and the "pho" dream

In fact, it is not easy to analyze the correlation between the absolute increase in national income per capita with the ability to improve the quality of life of the masses. The comparison is always relative, and the dream to eat "pho" (in the sense of a favorite dish) is also sometimes present in the rich countries.

Although, if temporarily considering the individual income level corresponding with national exports and expenditure on imports, respectively, the import - export data of Vietnam after five years joining the WTO is noticeable. Accordingly, in the period 2007-2011, exports increased by 2.4 times, from $39.8 billion to $96.9 billion; imports also rose by 2.4 times, from $44.9 billion to $106.7 billion. It was a constant trade deficit.

Exports in the past five years were still based on unprocessed commodities, or semi-processed ones with low value, typically minerals, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, textiles and footwear. But imports were expensive products such as machinery, equipment, and pharmaceuticals.

TBKTSG