Following March’s leadership election in Vietnam, foreign investors will be assessing whether the appointment of a new president will see the easing of a long-running anti-corruption campaign that has accelerated in the past year, inadvertently putting a severe strain on the economy.

The crackdown, dubbed ‘blazing furnace’, has ensnared hundreds of businessmen and officials, often paralysing decision-making and, in doing so, slowing some economic activity. Administrators have been reluctant to approve projects and procurement that may subsequently be investigated for irregularities, leaving them vulnerable to dismissal or prosecution.

The delays could act as an economic break on an export-reliant country looking to persuade more Western manufacturing companies to switch some or all of their Chinese production to Vietnam amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing and China’s uncertain recovery from its zero-Covid policy.

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Image credit: HOANG THONG NHAT/Vietnam News Agency/AFP via Getty Images