(VOVWORLD) - Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) has raised its outlook for Vietnam from negative to positive and maintained the Government of Vietnam's long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings at Ba3. Analysts credited Vietnam’s macroeconomic policies and its success in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic for the improved outlook.
 Tra fish processing for exports at Can Tho Seafood Export-Import Company (Photo: Danh Lam/VNA) |
Statistics released by the General Statistics Office show that Vietnam's economy continued its recovery in the first 2 months of 2021 in many sectors, including agricultural production, forestry, industry, and business development.
Private investment attraction and import-export activities have also re-bounced.
Industrial production grew 7.4%. Although the number of new enterprises decreased, registered capital increased. FDI capital disbursement was about 2.5 billion USD, up 2%.
 Tran Toan Thang, NCIF head (Photo: baochinhphu.vn) |
Tran Toan Thang, head of the National Centre for Socio-Economic Information and Forecast (NCIF) of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said, “The national economy is on track to recover, with positive economic signs being recorded during the third quarter and fourth quarter of last year providing fresh impetus to growth in January, especially in import-export, investment, agriculture, and production.”
Nguyen Kim Hung, acting director of the Vietnam Institute of Business Administration and Digital Economy, said effective implementation of Vietnam’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign is expected to boost national economic recovery.
According to Hung, “The Vietnamese economy will recover strongly in March and April, with high expectations for the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic, GDP growth of 6%, and an effective rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.”
According to Moody’s, Vietnam’s higher rating will benefit it during the current global supply chain restructuring and will improve Vietnam’s credit profile.
Do Thai Hung, Director General of the Finpros Investment Company, said, “Despite global economic turbulence, cash flow in the Vietnamese economy is healthy. In particular, local banks have kept safe their financial indexes, profitability, and bad debt indexes. Basically, local banks have been largely immune to COVID-19.”
Finance expert Nguyen Tri Hieu said that Moody's latest rating reflect confidence in the Vietnamese economy.
“Given Vietnam’s faster recovery, it’s no surprise that Moody's has raised Vietnam’s outlook. But we must work harder to attract more investment. Vietnam’s economic growth has been a bright spot during the pandemic, but more needs to be done to improve the quality of life,” said Hieu.