downgrade Fitch da BB- a B+
Vietnam's Debt Rating Lowered by Fitch on Foreign Borrowing, `Weak' Banks - Bloomberg
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Vietnam's Debt Rating Lowered by Fitch on Foreign Borrowing, `Weak' Banks
By Jason Folkmanis - Jul 29, 2010
Vietnam’s debt rating was lowered by Fitch Ratings on concern about the nation’s “inconsistent” economic policy, foreign-exchange reserves and banking system.
The country’s long-term foreign and local-currency ratings were cut to B+ from BB-, with a stable outlook, Fitch said in a statement today. The new rating is four steps below investment grade and contrasts with improving creditworthiness this year among emerging markets from Indonesia to Ukraine.
Fitch highlighted a budget deficit it expects to stay “high” at 7.6 percent of gross domestic product in 2010, which the government is financing partly by issuing foreign-currency debt even when the nation is running a current-account deficit.
“Vietnam’s sovereign creditworthiness has deteriorated on the back of weaker external finances and rising external financing requirements amid an inconsistent macroeconomic policy framework,”
Ai Ling Ngiam, a director in Fitch’s Asia Sovereign team, said in today’s release. She also cited a “weak banking system.”
The International Monetary Fund said last month that Vietnam’s foreign reserves had declined to the equivalent of seven weeks of imports from less than two-and-a-half months in December. It estimated the current-account deficit would be 9.9 percent of GDP this year, down from 10.4 percent in 2009.
Dong ‘Vulnerable’
Fitch said Vietnam’s foreign-exchange reserves had declined to $13.8 billion in March, before recovering “marginally,” without giving a figure. It said the Vietnamese dong is vulnerable to shocks to domestic confidence.
The currency, which was devalued in February, was little changed at 19,075 per dollar at 12:02 p.m. and has fallen 3.2 percent this year. The benchmark Ho Chi Minh stock index closed little changed at 491.11.
“External debt levels for Vietnam look manageable,” said
Matt Hildebrandt, a Singapore-based economist for JPMorgan Chase & Co. “The downgrade was appropriate because Vietnam’s credit quality is weaker than peers such as Indonesia and the Philippines, but I wouldn’t expect any further downgrades by Fitch, and I think the risk of a default is very low.”
Vietnam’s policy makers have urged banks to reduce lending costs to bolster the economy even as inflation has held above 8 percent since February. Consumer prices rose 8.19 percent in July from a year earlier, compared with 8.69 percent in June.
Against the Grain
“The authorities have gone back and forth on fighting inflation or supporting growth, and their recent focus on driving rates lower goes against the grain of other Asian central banks,” said
Tai Hui, the head of Southeast Asian economic research at Standard Chartered Plc in Singapore.
Vietnam’s move to target growth over managing inflation is a “dangerous strategy,” given its “low” level of foreign reserves and a lack of confidence in the dong,
Kevin Grice, a London-based economist at Capital Economics Ltd., said in a July 19 note.
Vietnam’s sovereign credit-default swaps rose after Fitch lowered the country’s rating. The five-year price rose 5 basis points to 225 basis points, according to Deutsche Bank AG prices. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. Vietnam raised $1 billion when it sold its second foreign bond in January, the first such sale since its initial offering in 2005.
“There are no plans for any new government sovereign-debt sales anytime soon so Fitch’s move wouldn’t have any impact there, though there may be some negative implications for the bonds that are already out there,” said
Lawrence Wolfe, director of business development at DongA Securities Co. in Ho Chi Minh City.
Trade Deficit
Vietnam’s trade deficit widened in July from the previous month on falling exports. The shortfall reached $1.15 billion from a revised $742 million in June. For the seven months through July, the deficit was $7.4 billion, almost twice the figure for the same period last year.
The nation’s economic growth accelerated to 6.4 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier. Outstanding loans rose 10.52 percent in the first six months of the year. The central bank’s full-year target for credit growth is 25 percent and Prime Minister
Nguyen Tan Dung’s government is targeting 6.5 percent GDP expansion in 2010.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jason Folkmanis in Berkeley, California at
[email protected]
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Allora lo vogliamo svalutare 'sto dong e li vogliamo alzare 'sti tassi ?