Vietnam Rich-Poor Gap Becomes Wider Amid More Millionaires

The rich-poor gap in Vietnam has become wider amid the rising number of U.S. dollar millionaires, the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) said. In last year’s first half, the country’s millionaires increased by 33% over the previous year, CIEM cited the survey by the wealth management firm Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and the consulting firm Capgemini on U.S. dollar millionaires in Asia in the first half of 2011 as saying. CIEM also cited a report of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs issued last year, saying that the number of poor households nationwide soared 50% to one million under new poverty lines, making up 20% of the country’s population. According to the World Bank (WB), the disparity between the rich and the poor in Vietnam has changed from being relatively small in 2002 to increasingly wider among groups. The income gap among regions has also turned clearer. Specifically, the average income per capita was around $1,850 in Hanoi, $3,000 in Ho Chi Minh City and $2,350 in the southern city of Can Tho last year. In addition, the figure in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau in 2010 reached $5,800, five times higher than the country’s average income. By 2015, HCM City and Hanoi only set the income per capita targets of around $4,800 and $3,300, respectively while the goal set by Ba Ria-Vung Tau is $11,500, and even $15,000 with crude oil revenues. Meanwhile, the income of poor provinces was very low in 2011, with just $900 per capita per year in the northern province of Nam Dinh, over $700 in the northern mountainous province of Bac Kan, over $400 in the central province of Quang Ngai and less than $300 in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang. According to official statistics of the Vietnam Stock Exchange, the number of U.S. dollar millionaires in Vietnam amounted to nearly 170 last year, with 100 richest people holding assets worth over $2 million each. “This is a good and encouraging signal after 20 years of renovation,” CIEM added. Apart from the income factor, the government should evaluate the poverty issue in a multi-dimensional manner, including health care, nutrition and education since new poverty forms are emerging, experts noted. In fact, Vietnam is seemed to have poured big investments into less important projects in the context thousands of local residents are living in miserable situation, experts added. The Vietnamese government has pledged to increase its spending on poverty reduction and disaster mitigation next years despite economic meltdown in a bid to reduce the poverty rate to 4%-5% by 2020 from 12% in 2011. (thesaigontimes.vn June 26)