VietNamNet Bridge - A lot of Vietnamese have become rich not because of legitimate production and business, but from corruption, tax evasion and illegal activities, experts say.


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Oxfarm has released a report showing that the one-year income of a group of 210 super-rich people in Vietnam is more than enough to help 3.2 million people escape poverty.

The 2016 Wealth Report showed that in 2015, Vietnam had 168 super rich people, i.e those who had $30 million and more, or 12 people higher than the year before. 

Vietnam is forecast to be the country with the highest increase (140 percent) in the number of super rich, to 403 persons, in the next decade.

Pham Tat Thang, a senior researcher at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said it is not a surprise that Vietnam has had many more super rich in recent years.

According to Thang, the average income per capita in Vietnam has been increasing rapidly in the last 30 years. The current figure is $3,100.

However, compared with other regional countries, Thang believes that Vietnam has lagged far behind.

“Vietnam is among the countries with the lowest income in ASEAN,” he said.

A lot of Vietnamese have become rich not because of legitimate production and business, but from corruption, tax evasion and illegal activities, experts say.

Nguyen Cong Nghiep from the Hanoi Business & Technology University, former Deputy Minister of Finance, while commenting that this is good news that Vietnam has more rich people, said that it is difficult to exactly know the real value of super-rich people’s assets.

In recent years, the assets of the super rich have been measured by the volume of stocks they hold and the assets they declare. However, there are still ‘hidden’ billionaires as their assets are not made public. Meanwhile, cash remains the major payment method in Vietnam.

Some analysts pointed out that while the number of super rich has been increasing sharply, the public debt has also increased and has nearly hit the ceiling while GDP growth has slowed down.

According to Thang, there are three groups of super rich. First, people who made money thanks to big stock assets. Second, those who got rich from real estate, and third, people who exploited natural resources in Vietnam or other countries.

He noted that not many people got rich by producing high-quality goods which create jobs, contribute to Vietnam’s GDP, or engage in sustainable development.

He also noted the relation between the sharp increase in the number of super rich, GDP growth slowdown and the public debt increase.

Nguyen Tri Hieu, a renowned expert, in an interview with Dat Viet, said this is a ‘matter of concern’.

Many rich people have not contributed to the country’s development.


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