What steps could Vietnam take to strengthen governance and institutions to improve the country's credit rating?

DNHN - The conference on popularizing the "Project to Enhance the National Credit Rating to 2030" underlined that to fulfil the scheme's aims, Vietnam must improve its governance and institutional strength...

On May 13, the Ministry of Finance held a conference in Ha Long, Quang Ninh, to disseminate the "Project on Improving the National Credit Rating to 2030," in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other banks to advise and support Vietnam in its work on the national credit rating (SOCI).

Representatives from international organizations such as ADB, IMF, World Bank, Standard Chartered Bank—Vietnam's CSR consulting organization, ministries, branches, government agencies, National Assembly agencies, and others, as well as companies and commercial banks, attended the conference.

Speeches during the conference noted that on March 31, 2022, the Prime Minister of Vietnam announced a resolution authorizing the "Project to raise the national credit rating to 2030." The initiative, coordinated by the Ministry of Finance, in partnership with appropriate ministries, departments, and agencies, analyzed the outcomes of national CSR activities from 2013 to 2020 and recommended targets to aim towards. Vietnam's CSR will be elevated to investment grade by 2030.

To meet the project's goals, Vietnam will continue to promote its credit profile strengths such as economic and fiscal strength, while also working to strengthen the indicators of governance strength and financial strength. institutions, financial sector, state-owned companies, worldwide ranking criteria

Vietnam is now rated BB (according to Fitch and S&P) and Ba3 (according to Moody's). Vietnam is rated well by all three organizations.

The Government of Vietnam successfully conducted three foreign bond issuances in 2005, 2010, and 2014, with substantially lower issuance costs throughout the years due to the better national credit rating and outlook.

Keeping up with the goals of the Scheme and developing national CSR in the future is a big part of improving Vietnam's credit profile, which helps the whole economy.

The update also helps improve the country's image by making it easier for foreign investors, both direct and indirect, to trust the country.

The main thing that drives the development of a country's CSR is the consolidation of its CSR components. On the other hand, regular CSR evaluation will drive changes in these areas in the future.

Directly connected to debt, credit upgrading helps to provide a stable foundation for the government and enterprises to borrow local and international loans at affordable rates. This is critical as Vietnam's sources of ODA and concessional loans dwindle.

The Conference will help ministries, sectors, local governments, and businesses work together to put socio-economic development plans and strategies into action so that the scheme's goals can be met. This will help Vietnam's CSR rise to the top.

Ha Anh