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Vietnam The Second Five-Year Plan (1976-80)
The optimism and impatience of Vietnam's leaders were evident
in the Second Five-Year Plan. The plan set extraordinarily high
goals for the average annual growth rates for industry (16 to 18
percent), agriculture (8 to 10 percent), and national income (13
to 14 percent). It also gave priority to reconstruction and new
construction while attempting to develop agricultural resources,
to integrate the North and the South, and to proceed with
communization.
Twenty years were allowed to construct the material and
technical bases of communism. In the South, material construction
and systemic transformation were to be combined in order to
hasten economic integration with the North. It was considered
critical for the VCP to improve and extend its involvement in
economic affairs so that it could guide this process. Development
plans were to focus equally on agriculture and industry, while
initial investment was to favor projects that developed both
sectors of the economy. Thus, for example, heavy industry was
intended to serve agriculture on the premise that a rapid
increase in agricultural production would in turn fund further
industrial growth. With this strategy, Vietnamese leaders claimed
that the country could bypass the capitalist industrialization
stage necessary to prepare for communism (see
table 4, Appendix
A).
Vietnam was incapable, however, of undertaking such an
ambitious program on its own and solicited financial support for
its Second Five-Year Plan from Western nations, international
organizations, and communist allies. Although the amount of
economic aid requested is not known, some idea of the assistance
level envisioned by Hanoi can be obtained from available
financial data. The Vietnamese government budget for 1976
amounted to US$2.5 billion, while investments amounting to US$7.5
billion were planned for the period between 1976 and 1980.
The economic aid tendered to Hanoi was substantial, but it
still fell short of requirements. The Soviet Union, China, and
Eastern Europe offered assistance that was probably worth US$3
billion to US$4 billion, and countries of the Western economic
community pledged roughly US$1 billion to US$1.5 billion.
Data as of December 1987
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