The past few months have seen a constant flow of news reporting on the unfolding global financial and economic crisis afflicting the World economy and on its likely impact on Viet Nam. More recently, the Vietnamese press has started to report on the first symptoms of the crisis in Viet Nam, with large drops in the umber of tourists entering the country, companies postponing investments, others closing down, and a general slowdown in the rate of economic activity, FDI inflows and exports and imports of goods and services.

In light of these events, the government has recently revised downwards its GDP growth forecasts for 2009, from 7.5 percent to 6.5 percent, and has announced a six billion USD stimulus package aimed at mitigating the impact of the global financial and economic crisis on the Vietnamese economy and its people, and preventing a general slowdown of economic activity in Viet Nam.