S&P maintains stable outlook for VN’s sovereign credit rating

S&P Global Ratings retains Viet Nam’s sovereign credit rating at BB, with a stable outlook, according to the Ministry of Finance.

S&P's affirmation on Viet Nam's sovereign credit ratings at 'BB' reflects its assessment on robust recovery potential of the nation's economy after a period of time in slowdown due to COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

It stated that strong growth achievements of Viet Nam in recent years will continue to underpin our country's ratings.

The stable outlook reflects S&P's expectation that Viet Nam's economy will rapidly recover and rebalance when the global pandemic is contained, with exports and aggregate domestic demand being the main growth drivers, keeping Viet Nam's ratings well above the average of its peers.

In the scenario that the pandemic is largely contained by the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021, S&P expects real GDP growth to rebound in 2021 and from 2022 onward to settle closer to Viet Nam's long-term growth rate between 6.0%-7.0%.

During the working session between the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance and relevant agencies with S&P to assess the sovereign rating in late April, Viet Nam has exchanged and provided convincing evidences to demonstrate the resilience of the economy in this challenging global environment.

Besides successfully containing the COVID-19 pandemic, Viet Nam has proactively carried out practical activities in assisting, collaborating and experience sharing with nations and international organizations which has been highly praised by the international community.

Since early April 2020, S&P has negatively adjusted the ratings and outlooks to 32 nations in which 10 nations are downgraded and 22 nations' outlooks are negatively revised.

The maintenance of rating and outlook in Viet Nam is a remarkable result, manifesting S&P's trust in Viet Nam's institutional settings which consistently promote development achievements in the medium term and support broad-based improvements in income levels and quality of life.

Standard & Poor's (S&P) is a leading index provider and data source of independent credit ratings.

By Thuy Dung