Vietnam's ruling Communist Party promises economic reforms as top leaders criticised

Vietnam's ruling Communist Party has promised economic reforms and a restructuring of state firms and the banking system after a top-level meeting that criticised senior members - thought to include the embattled prime minister - but left them in their posts.

The banks are swimming in bad debt, much of it owed by the huge state enterprises at the heart of the economy. Moody's downgraded Vietnam last month and said bank reforms should be implemented quickly.

The central committee, a powerful body of more than 170 senior members of the party, "came to the decision not to discipline the collective of the political bureau and a comrade member of the political bureau", the party said.

Some analysts had predicted that Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, in power since 2006, might be ousted. He has faced questions in parliament over a scandal involving Vinashin, a big state shipbuilder he championed but which almost collapsed in 2010 under US$4.5 billion in debt.

Bloggers have accused him of greed, cronyism and economic mismanagement. The authorities responded with a crackdown on dissent and three high-profile bloggers were recently jailed for up to 12 years for anti-state propaganda.

The plenum urged that the business climate be improved and foreign investment encouraged, according to a report by the official Vietnam News Agency (VNA). While it advocated the restructuring and renovation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), "the committee continued to affirm their core role", according to the report.