Vietnam’s local currency bond market continued to expand in Q2 2019: ADB

Vietnam’s local currency bond market continued to expand during the second quarter of 2019, growing 2.6% on-quarter in local currency terms, after a 0.7% expansion in the first quarter, to US$52.9 billion.

Illustrative image.
Illustrative image.

The statistic was announced under the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) latest issue of the Asia Bond Monitor.

According to the report, the growth was mainly on the back of the 3.2% expansion of the government bond market, to US$48.0 billion, due to the issuance of Treasury bonds and central bank bills.

Further, the growth in the government bond market offset the 3.4% contraction of the corporate bond market during the second quarter of 2019 to US$5 billion.

The quarterly report also stated that emerging East Asia’s local currency bond market expanded steadily in the second quarter of 2019 despite downside risks stemming from ongoing trade conflicts, a faster-than-expected economic slowdown in China, and moderating global growth.

Emerging East Asia is comprised of China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore ,Thailand and Vietnam.

Local currency bonds outstanding in emerging East Asia totaled US$15.3 trillion at the end of June, up 3.5% in US dollar terms from the end of March this year and 14.2% higher than the end of June 2018. Bond issuance in emerging East Asia totaled US$1.6 trillion in the second quarter, 12.2% higher than in the first quarter, due to strong issuance of government bonds and a recovery in corporate bonds issuance.

At the end of June, there was US$9.4 trillion in local currency government bonds outstanding, 13.6% higher than at the end of June 2018. The stock of corporate bonds was US$5.8 trillion, up 15% compared with end June 2018.