Đổi Mới

Đổi Mới (pronounced [ɗo᷉i mə̌ːi]; English: Renovation) is the name given to the economic reforms initiated in Vietnam in 1986 with the goal of creating a "socialist-oriented market economy". The term itself is a general term with wide use in the Vietnamese language, however the Doi Moi Policy (Chính sách Đổi Mới) refers specifically to these reforms. The communist government in the north, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), adopted a centrally planned economy since its inception. Under the command economy, the central government decided output targets and prices, input supplies, domestic wholesale and retail trade, and international trade; the state was aiming at creating a vertically integrated economy where there was no commercial contact among individual production units horizontally. In the agricultural sector, the government formed cooperatives in three stages; production solidarity groups, lower-level cooperatives where land and equipment were shared, and higher-level cooperatives in which a system of workpoints determined distribution of all income. However, the command economy was abolished by the late 1980s following the 6th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

It was de facto a top-down reform program that required a handful of most influential high-ranking political figures of Vietnam in mid-1980s.

Prior to the Doi Moi, Vietnam faced an economic crisis; inflation soared to over 700 per cent, economic growth slowed down, and export revenues covered less than the total value of imports. They resulted in intense debate about past faults under the central planning system and the need to introduce a major change in the run up to the 6th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Moreover, one of the important developments which provoked change was the death of Party Secretary, Lê Duẩn, in July 1986. Long time party leaders including Lê Duẩn, Trường Chinh and Pham Van Dong were deemed attributed to part of the crisis of Vietnamese state socialism. As a result, the Sixth Party Congress elected as Party Secretary more liberal Nguyễn Văn Linh at the Sixth Party Congress in December 1986.

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