On Tuesday, Vietnam’s parliament officially approved the biggest restructuring plan since the 1980s when Vietnam adopted pro-market reforms, affecting approximately 100,000 civil servants as the size of government will be reduced by 20%.
According to the plan, several ministries will be merged, while five ministries will be terminated. Moreover, many state-run television channels, along with several newspapers and magazines, will be shut down.
Communist Party Chief To Lam commented on the necessity of this plan while pushing the restructuring before next year’s leadership reshuffle. The goal of this reform is to reach the 8% economic growth that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh aims to accomplish by this year.
As for government workers being laid off, although they did receive a range of payouts, many are concerned about finding a new job as hundreds of thousands of workers will be competing for a new position in the private sector.
