International bonds set to launch in Vietnamese currency

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) put forward a plan to release new bonds in Vietnamese dong at a workshop on Thursday.

The first issuance of  $100 million worth of bonds will be converted into Vietnamese currency. The money will be used to invest in the Vietnamese market, said Nena Stoiljkovic, the IFC's vice president for Asia and Pacific.

The IFC's investors include foreign wealth funds and central banks, and they may find the Vietnamese bond attractive, she added.

The bonds, named Bong Sen, will give foreign investors easier access to Vietnamese dong investments and offer them a more diverse portfolio.

Vietnam has high demand for investment development but limited domestic resources, so the IFC's initiative will be a financial channel for the country’s economic development, said Nguyen Thi Hong, deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam.

Vietnam plans to have its private sector account for 50 percent of the country’s GDP by 2020.