Fitch Ratings has upgraded Vietnam's sovereign rating based on rising foreign-exchange reserves and strong economic growth.

Bloomberg cited Fitch's announcement on May 15 that shows the rating on the nation’s long-term, foreign currency-denominated debt was raised one level to BB, with a stable outlook. The upgrade puts Vietnam at the second-highest speculative grade and on par with Costa Rica.

The rating agency also forecast that Vietnam's foreign reservices would increase to about 66 billion USD by the end of this year from 49 billion USD in 2017, while general government debt is likely to decline to below 50 percent of gross domestic product by 2019.

According to Fitch, the country's economy can expand 6.7 percent this year. 

Most economic forecasts since early April said Vietnam’s GDP growth will be 6.5 percent or higher in 2018.  

On an annual credit analysis released on April 3, Moody’s Investors Service said that Vietnam’s real GDP growth will remain robust, averaging 6.7 percent in 2018.  

Meanwhile, the World Bank (WB) on April 12 forecast Vietnam’s economic growth to stabilise around 6.5 percent in 2018. 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected Vietnam’s economy to grow by 6.6 percent this year and 6.5 percent the following year in its report namely “World Economic Outlook, April 2018”. 

Vietnam’s economy enjoyed a strong economic expansion of 7.38 percent in the first quarter of this year, the best first-quarter performance in the last decade, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam.-VNA