Newsflash: The world's economy ain't doing so good.I've gotten emails from people asking how the world financial crisis has effected Vietnam, so here's my response:
Originally there were no signs of change here. In fact, oddly enough, the US dollar got stronger for a couple of weeks. However, that's recently changed. The US dollar is about where it was the whole time I was here. However, property values in Hanoi have started to lower. The government also just announced that there will be no income tax for the next five months to try and help stimulate the economy.
On a personal note, the economy has hit my bank account directly. About five months ago I opened an account with ANZ - Australia New Zealand Bank. I was wowed with my new online savings account because it had a very high interest rate of 10%. It was so high that I thought of even transferring some of my money from the states into my Vietnamese account. However, the good times have ended. The other day I went to the bank and found out that the interest rate on my account has dropped to 4%!! That's right, it's dropped 6% in just a few months. So much for transferring my US dollars over here...
