Few question whether Vietnam would benefit from less bureaucracy and red tape. Yet while the current government restructuring offers the promise of an environment more favorable for investment and entrepreneurship, observers are cautious about the outlook for its success. (Illustration by Yoshiko Kawano)

Vietnam trumps DOGE with 'urgent' state restructuring

To Lam slashes bureaucracy in quest to boost economic growth

GOVI SNELL

April 4, 2025 06:00 JST

HO CHI MINH CITY -- Civil servants in Vietnam are running scared. Like their counterparts in the U.S., tens of thousands have woken up to notifications that their positions or even their whole agency has been abolished. Those still on the job are quickly coming to feel overburdened while worrying they could be next.

"It's not just rumors anymore," said an employee of a state-owned enterprise in Ho Chi Minh City, noting that some civil servants were arrested weeks before for spreading gossip about the impending bureaucratic restructuring. "There's time pressure within the government organization."