Vietnam has come through the recent financial crisis much better than many analysts expected and in some areas is recording the fastest growth rate in the world.

The UK’s Financial Times ran an article on Dec. 3, saying that Vietnam is the first Asian nation to start winding down its post-crisis stimulus programme as the Government plans to stop its interest rate subsidy scheme at the end of the year.

The World Bank said the Vietnamese government’s stimulus programme has contributed significantly to the country’s growth.

The government used their limited resources on a stimulus programme which concentrated on helping industries to keep jobs, which put the country in a strong position to make the best of any economic upturn.

Martin Rama, the World Bank’s chief economist in Vietnam said that the ending of the subsidised interest rate programme will be painful for some enterprises but the government is counting on borrowers selling gold and/or dollars to pay back their loans.

The Research Department at US group Goldman Sachs, on Dec. 3 released a report on Vietnam’s economic recovery in 2009 and gave an estimation of the country’s economic prospects for 2010 and 2011.

According to the report, Vietnam’s economy has now completely recovered thanks to the growth in domestic demand; however, it still faces emerging risks caused by the threat of inflation.

They also forecast that Vietnam will post a GDP growth rate of 5.1 percent in 2009 and 8.2 percent and 7.8 percent in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Thanks to the stimulus package and looser monetary policy, Vietnam has weathered the impacts of the global crisis very well, it said./.