There were just three corporate bond issuances in Vietnam in February to the value of VND 1.165 trillion (US$47.3 million), Tuoi Tre is reporting. This brings the total number of bond issuances for the first two months of the year to eight valued at a collective VND 5.96 trillion (US$242 million).
The publication suggests this relatively low figure is partly due to Decree 65. Decree 65 was introduced in September of 2022 adding a number of criteria to bond issuance effectively designed to reduce risk in Vietnam’s corporate bond market. These restrictions saw the market more-or-less freeze up with bond issuances falling dramatically. To get capital flowing again, these new regulations were put on hold until the end of 2023. Now back in force, it seems that once again they have put the brakes on the corporate bond market.