This growth was supported by expansion in both the government and corporate bond segments, stated the ADB.

There is an urgent need for a credible domestic rating agency in Vietnam to promote the orderly development of a healthy and sustainable bond market, according to a recent report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Warnings from management agencies plus new policies that take effect soon will make it more difficult to issue corporate bonds, a capital mobilization channel that was worth $8.5 billion in the first seven months of the year.

The Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) was the biggest corporate bond issuer in January-June.

The local currency (LCY) bond market in Vietnam posted the highest growth in the emerging East Asia region, as authorities took fiscal and monetary policy actions to mitigate the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Vietnam’s local currency (LCY) bond market reached a size of VND1,193 trillion (US$51 billion) at the end of March, up a marginal 0.7% quarter-on-quarter, a reversal from the 5% quarter-on-quarter contraction in the last quarter of 2018.