Long-term Government bonds will remain the focus of the finance ministry in the future to help the Government extend the loan due dates and reduce pressure on paying its debts.

The finance ministry is set to earn VND340 trillion (US$15.1 billion) for the State budget this year, including VND184 trillion for offsetting the overspending of the budget and VND156 trillion for the Government’s debt payment.

Based on this request, the finance ministry and its agencies will focus on issuing long-term Government bonds to raise that amount.

According to the Viet Nam State Treasury, the policies related to bond issuance have been adjusted.

For example, the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) issued a Circular 06/2016/TT-NHNN in May 2016 to amend the Circular 36/2014/TT-NHNN regulating prudential ratios for the operations of credit institutions and foreign bank branches.

Therefore, foreign investors have been paying more attention to the Viet Nam’s Government bond market.

Recently, the Viet Nam State Treasury issued bonds for various terms between three years and 30 years, focussing on five-year bonds to extend the average maturity and reduce the pressure on the Government’s debt payment in short term.

Besides, Government agencies have held talks with members from the market to receive and respond to demands of investors, as well as their complaints and difficulties.

According to a report from the finance ministry, in 2016, the finance sector focussed on issuing bonds with maturity terms of five years. The volume of those bonds was 91.1 per cent of the total bonds issued in 2016, exceeding the target of 70 per cent set by the National Assembly.

The average bond yield rate last year was 6.59 per cent per year, a decrease of 54.5 per cent from the rate in 2011, and 17 per cent from the rate in 2013.

The conversion of the bonds that have a maturity term below five years has been done successfully to restructure the government’s loan portfolio.

At the end of 2016, the ratios of domestic and foreign loans in the Government’s total debt were 59 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively. The ratio of domestic loans has increased in comparison to the previous years, which matched the government’s plan to reduce its dependence on overseas lending. — VNS