According to Viet Dragon Securities (VDSC), with lending rates on the rise, tightening credit space may push rates even higher in the second half of the year. The State Bank of Vietnam could adjust its credit growth target to make it more in line with actual needs, and credit growth for the year as a whole could reach 16 per cent.

State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Governor Nguyen Thi Hong has said that the size of Vietnam’s corporate bond market is still small compared to elsewhere in the region and this puts major pressure on capital demand in the banking system. Other shortcomings include the absence of a specialized corporate bond market and the limited participation of foreign investors.

Capital demand for implementing expressway projects to 2030 totals up to VND900 trillion ($39.41 billion), of which the State budget can meet VND600 trillion ($26.25 billion), with the remaining VND300 trillion ($13.16 billion) to be mobilized from domestic and foreign investors. In order to attract private investment, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Deputy Director-General of the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam, said that the profit margin of build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects should be increased to over 15 per cent and the rate of State capital contribution could be increased to 70 per cent.