Zimbabwe is still leading in terms of economic inflation; however Vietnam is starting to write a similar one.

Vietnam’s 27 % inflation level has yet to reach the wooziness levels we see in Zimbabwe but the country is experiencing every problem that causes a rush into precious metals. Interest rates are over 8% and rising, the stock market  was down every day since May 2008, and official joblessness has more than doubled and reached 5.1% in 2008 (Spain has 10,2% unemployment). The real spending power of household has drastically declined. The Vietnamese stock market index has collapsed all the way to the base from where the parabolic rise started (200) and Real Estate is coming down in sequence.

People in Vietnam are reacting in a different way as compared to Zimbabwe. The main understanding being that the population in Zimbabwe had and has no or little access to Gold. Vietnam was a French colony and it has, like all colonies have, transmitted the French way of living. French people conventionally jumped into gold in times of economic and financial adversity. They were over and over again civilized by history and have not forgotten their lessons.  As a result Vietnam’s economic and monetary problems have sent its people fleeing into gold. There are no gold stocks but physical gold bullion. They're accumulating it and hiding it from their government.

Only about 10% of what Vietnamese hold in Gold has been deposited into banks and the remaining 90% is likely hidden by its owners.
 The trend toward gold is disgorging into other financial areas. After a long period of quoting land prices in Vietnamese dong, landlords are now setting prices in gold in order to avoid the devaluation.

Since June 2008, it’s impossible for a Vietnamese to buy gold. Formally, the government claims this new policy is to normalize flourishing imports, which resulted in a record trade deficit for the first half of 2008.