Vietnam and Pakistan: similar but different?

In 2007, Goldman Sachs included Pakistan and Vietnam in the N-11 - a group of 11 economies, besides the renowned BRIC, which were bound to pique investor interest. Those were good times.
Today, the Vietnamese Dong (VND) is cited as being one prominent currency that has depreciated more against the dollar than the PKR. This, at a time when currencies of major economies have been appreciating against the greenback, has raised inquisitive thoughts about whats common between the two.
On the face of it, these economies seem to be in tandem in todays scenarios of thick and thin; but are they really as similar as believed by many? A detailed analysis reveals more than what meets the eye.
Vietnam is predominantly an export-based economy, unlike Pakistan, with the main export-earner for Vietnam being crude oil. Interestingly, even though the Vietnamese economy has boasted trade surpluses in the past, it is battling with a ballooning trade deficit, estimated to reach $13.5 billion in 2010. This may be an anomaly for Vietnam, but is almost a generic term for the Pakistani economy.
Ironically, while Pakistans currency has depreciated mainly due to rising imports amid a rational exchange rate adjustment after the removal of managed float and lower FDIs, the Vietnamese government deliberately devalued the VND by 2 percent in August this year to aid exports and help lessen the pressure on the trade deficit.
Another aspect of similarity is inflation. Vietnam is experiencing a period of very high inflation, flirting above 8 percent for the past few months, just as Pakistan is scuffling with an inflation of 13.7 percent for the quarter gone by.
On a bleaker side, both the countries are labelled as being high on corruption which hinders ease of carrying out economic and business activities. Transparency Internationals Corruption Perceptions Index for 2009 ranked Vietnam at 120 out of 180 countries, just a tad better than that of Pakistan, 139.
The picture of public debt is not very rosy either; Pakistans public-debt-to-GDP is close to 60 percent while that of Vietnam hovers around 54 percent. Yet, on the flip side of public revenue figures, Vietnams tax-to-GDP ratio is at 23.2 percent, while Pakistans is at 10.2 percent.
Vietnam seems to be faring better on the FDI side as well. Unlike Pakistan, where security concerns and inept fiscal management, have kept FDI inflows subdued, Vietnam boasted of foreign investment netting over $8 billion January to September 2010. In Pakistan, on the contrary, there were only $2.15 billion of FDI in FY10.
In addition, while Pakistans economy is largely service-based, with services contributing 59 percent to GDP growth, the Vietnamese economy is mainly industry-based which contributes 40 percent to the countrys GDP.
On the foreign relations front, Vietnam seems to have adopted a more sagacious stance than Pakistan. Despite the invasion of Cambodia by Vietnamese troops in the 1970, Vietnam has encouraged closer cooperation with its neighbour. It is also a prominent member of the ASEAN, and its trade with the bloc of countries hovers around 16 percent, right after the US and EU. Pakistans trade with its regional bloc, the SAARC, on the flip side, is not a figure to boast about.
These details reveal that while many parallels between the two countries can still be drawn, Vietnam is taking strides to move up the ladder and strengthen its position as a prominent emerging economy. Unfortunately, one can be too sure if this can be said for Pakistan.