Vietnam credit ratings raised at Moody's on resilience to macro shocks
TARIK KIZILKAYA


Vietnam's long-term issuer senior unsecured ratings were upgraded Tuesday to Ba2 from Ba3 by Moody's, reflecting its economic strengths relative to peers and resilience to macroeconomic shocks. Ba2 is two levels below investment grade.
Its outlook was change to stable from positive, reflecting a balance of risks to the rating. VanEck Vietnam ETF (BATS:VNM) has risen 0.2% in Tuesday premarket trading.

Moody's expects Vietnam's economy to continue to benefit from supply chain reconfiguration, export diversification and continued inbound investment in manufacturing. "The rating also reflects a sounder fiscal footing backed by contained borrowing costs, a conservative approach to fiscal policy and improved government liquidity, driven by the ongoing transition from external concessional borrowing toward longer-dated, low-cost domestic market financing," Moody's said.
Along with today's action, Vietnam's local- and foreign-currency ceilings were raised by a notch to Baa2 from Baa3 and Ba1 from Ba2, respectively.
Last month, Nikkei Asia reported that Apple (AAPL) was in talks to make watches, MacBooks in Vietnam.