Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Vietnamese stock market has flourished amidglobal uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Tran Van Dung, Chairmanof the State Securities Commission (SSC).
“The stock market so far this year has developed significantly with theVN-Index rising by 27 percent since July and 9 percent since the beginning ofthis year,” he said.
Market liquidity has soared to more than 10 trillion VND per session in recentsessions. The VN-Index has regained the milestone of 1,000 points even thoughthere was time VN-Index fell to 650 points as a result of COVID-19, he added.
He attributed the development to many factors such as the Government'spolicies, the potential of economic development in Vietnam and the resilienceof Vietnamese enterprises amid the pandemic.
Dung said: "Although Vietnam has to confront two waves of COVID-19, theimpact of the disease itself so far is negligible. We are more influenced bythe disruption of the global supply chain and the common difficulties met bythe global economy.
“This showed the government's reasonable policies to ensure the safety of thepeople while still considering facilitating economic development. Although thetourism sector saw a decline in foreign visitors but domestic tourists werestill crowded. We see a huge increase in Vietnam's exports and we report a largetrade surplus. We still keep a relatively stable exchange rate and inflationrate.”
“Vietnamese enterprises are quite resilient amid pandemic as statistics showedthat 84 percent of listed and trading enterprises were profitable as of the endof the third quarter. However, we believe that micro and small businesses werestill seriously affected in recent times.
Dung was speaking at the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) held early thisweek to announce results of the 33rd Chairs’ Meeting via videoconference.
It was the final event among the activities within the scope of the ACMF in2020 held under the chair and coordination of Vietnam’s State SecuritiesCommission (SSC).
In its latest announcement, FTSE Russell said Vietnam still remained on theequity index watchlist for possible upgrade to “secondary emerging market” from“frontier market,” which was a positive result, Dung said.
He said: “The Securities Law and the Law on Enterprises and Investment willboth take effect in early 2021, creating a better and transparent investmentenvironment, which is a plus for the economy and the stock market.
"In 2020, thanks to the upgrading of Kuwait, Vietnam’s weight in MSCI FrontierMarkets Index and MSCI Frontier Markets 100 Index has been raised to 25.8 percentand 30 percent, attracting a lot of attention from international investors. Ithink we can say confidently that we can meet the target of upgrading Vietnammarket before 2025 set by the Government.
“State Securities Commission has worked actively with the World Bank, to timelyupdate information with FTSE Russel and MSCI on laws and market situation in Vietnam,besides learning more about the practice of other upgraded markets.”
At the meeting, leaders of capital market management authorities in ASEANcountries spoke highly of Vietnam’s efforts in promoting the implementation oftargets in capital market integration in the region, deepening regional linkagewith the international community for sustainable development, and improvingadaptation and institutional capacity of ASEAN.
Sustainability bond standards
With the theme of “Sustainable Finance”, the meeting discussed and agreed thatthe ACMF will roll out sustainability bond standards to support bond issuancefor the realisation of sustainable development goals, aiming to complete toolsfor ASEAN bond issuance.
To further foster the regional sustainable eco-financial system, delegates alsoagreed to conduct research on the building of a sustainable classificationsystem.
They commended the SSC’s role and coordination in partnering with theircounterparts in ASEAN countries and member markets in the building of the ACMFAction Plan for 2021-25.
Five main priorities of the action plan were approved at the meeting, whichwill be submitted to the 34th ACMF Chairs’ Meeting.
Leaders of ASEAN’s capital market management agencies reaffirmed commitment toensuring the ceaseless flow of the financial services market.
They also pledged to continue priorities for cooperation and collaborationpolicy between countries in the region and international financialorganisations, in an endeavour to bolster sustainable economic development andfinancial stabilisation in ASEAN.
The Monetary Authority of Brunei will take the rein of the 2021 ACMF./.