Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - In 2021, corporate bond yields were at their lowestlevel in history at just 7.86 percent a year. The interest rate may havecreated a bottom and will support corporate bond yields inching up in 2022.

In a recent report, SSI Research said that last year, enterprises issued atotal of 722.7 trillion VND (31.6 billion USD) worth of bonds, up 56 percentyear-on-year. The net number of corporate bonds issued in 2021, excluding theamount of matured and called away bonds, was estimated at 438 trillion VND, up63 percent.

The total amount of corporate bonds in circulation at the end of 2021 wasestimated at about 1,390 trillion VND, equivalent to an average growth rate of46 percent per year in the period from 2017 to 2021. The size of the corporatebond market increased sharply, from 4.93 percent of GDP in 2017 to 16.6 percentof GDP in 2021.

SSI said that this growth was in line with the capital market developmentorientation, reducing the dependence of enterprises on bank credit.

The average maturity of corporate bonds issued in 2021 decreased to 3.86 yearsfrom the average of 4.32 years in 2020. It was mainly because banking and realestate bonds have shorter maturity dates, down by 0.5 years and 0.3 years,respectively, to 4.2 years and 3.6 years.

The energy and minerals group also had shorter maturities, down by 0.86 yearsto an average of 6.4 years and remained the group with the longest maturitydate.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam, the banks’ lending interest ratesdeclined by 82 basis points in 2021.

Thereby, the average nominal yields of corporate bonds will also decrease by111 basis points (bps) to the same level of 7.86 percent a year, the biggestdecrease recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Specifically, the average yields of bank bonds and non-bank corporate bondsissued in the fourth quarter of 2021 were 4.07 percent per year and 9.43 percenta year, respectively, down 61 bps and 73 bps compared to the third quarter of2021, while deposit interest rates remained flat at a low level.

As corporate bond yields are at the lowest level in history, businessesincreasing capital mobilisation from bond issuance is also understandable.Meanwhile, the difference of non-bank bond yields compared to deposit ratesremained at 4 - 5 percent a year, causing higher demand for corporate bonds.The rise in both supply and demand has helped the corporate bond market growstrongly.

In 2022, SSI Research assesses that the corporate bond market will still seepositive developments as supply and demand remain at high levels. The depositinterest rate in 2022 may increase slightly by 20-25 bps, so the ratedifference between corporate bonds and the deposit channel remains at anattractive level, while investment demand for corporate bonds is still high.

On the other hand, the number of corporate bonds maturing in 2022 is estimatedat 266 trillion VND, up 39 percent compared to 2020 and accounting for about 19percent of the outstanding corporate bonds.

The demand for issuance to ensure capital turnover of enterprises is quitehigh. In addition, production and business activities are expected to be moreactive than in 2021 as the economy is reopening after the pandemic. Therefore,the supply of corporate bonds is expected to be very abundant./.