Vietnam's economy at risk without reforms: Lagarde

Hanoi

VIETNAM risks being vulnerable to external shocks if it doesn't push through reforms to strengthen its banking system and restructure state businesses, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde.

The South-east Asian nation isn't in a position to withstand economic blows from tightening of monetary policies elsewhere, a deep and prolonged drop in commodity prices and a slowing China without reforms, she said in a March 18 interview in Ho Chi Minh City. "The risk is that from being slightly vulnerable, Vietnam could become very vulnerable to external shocks," she noted. "It would expose the Vietnamese economy and that would not be good for the Vietnamese population."