Banking & Finance

The size of the corporate bond market has increased sharply in recent times, from 4.93 per cent of GDP in 2017 to 16.6 per cent in 2021. The market is likely to grow well this year due to supply and demand being maintained at high levels. Demand for issuances to ensure capital at enterprises is quite high. There will also be about VND266 trillion ($11.66 billion) of corporate bonds maturing this year.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Vietnam International Bank (VIB) have announced a three-year $260 million syndicated loan agreement to improve access to finance for SMEs and individual entrepreneurs. VIB will also implement a technical support program for female entrepreneurs, with a budget of $500,000. This is ADB’s first technical assistance provided to a Vietnamese bank to promote women’s entrepreneurship.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), in order to develop an action plan to implement the government’s resolution on the Socio-economic Recovery and Development Program, the central bank will strive to cut lending interest rates by between 0.5 and 1 per cent in 2022-2023, especially for priority sectors, but will maintain lending conditions to ensure credit quality, control bad debts, and guarantee the safety of credit institutions.

On March 16, speaking at the APEC Finance and Central Bank Deputies’ Meeting 2022, Permanent Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Xuan Ha said that Vietnam’s fiscal and monetary policy will continue to focus on exemptions and reductions of taxes, fees, and charges, extensions to tax payment deadlines, interest rate support, debt rescheduling, preferential loans, and jobs support. At the same time, the country will allocate capital for infrastructure investment and improve its business and investment environment.

While Covid-19 still caused difficulties for business activities and the economy, many banks posted solid profits last year. Total pre-tax profits of 24 banks in Vietnam stood at more than VND175 trillion ($7.65 billion), up 35.8 per cent compared to 2020.

According to SSI Research, when Vietnam fully opens its doors to international tourists on March 15 there will be three groups of stocks that will benefit: travel stocks, tourist accommodation stocks, and travel transport stocks. The tourism industry aims to welcome 65 million tourists this year, including 5 million international visitors.