Vietnam weighs first dollar bond since 2014 as one lender pitches a coupon near 7%
Reuters reported on Tuesday, September 15, 2026 that Vietnam's Finance Ministry is in talks with banks on a $500 million to $1 billion 10-year dollar bond, with one lender suggesting a coupon around 7%, the first sovereign dollar sale since 2014.
Vietnam's finance ministry is discussing a return to the dollar bond market for the first time since 2014, four people familiar with the talks told Reuters early Tuesday, with no sale approved and one foreign lender proposing a coupon around 7%. Hanoi has not needed dollars for routine funding: domestic government-bond sales have already exceeded $9 billion this year, at an average 10-year coupon of 4.2%, up from 3.1% in the same stretch a year earlier.
Fitch put foreign-exchange reserves at about $85.3 billion in April. The 7% coupon being pitched is 2.8 percentage points above that local average as a nominal gap, not a like-for-like cost of funds. The last $1 billion 10-year notes, sold at 4.8%, matured in November 2024.
One foreign investment bank has recommended a $1 billion 10-year issue, according to a banker who attended a meeting with the ministry. A second foreign lender has suggested a 10-year sale of $500 million to $1 billion with a coupon around 7%, a person briefed on that pitch said. Reuters did not name either bank. Two Vietnamese officials said the ministry is still weighing borrowing costs against rising global yields, high oil prices and inflation. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Banks, credit and a 10% growth target
Two of the people said proceeds would fund infrastructure and other projects. Vietnam is pursuing annual growth of at least 10% through 2030, Reuters reported. One of the sources said an external sale would also take pressure off Vietnamese banks, which have been the main lenders for domestic investment. Bank credit growth has outpaced deposit growth since at least 2021, according to the central bank.
Fitch, which on June 16 affirmed Vietnam at BB+ with a stable outlook, flagged elevated credit reliance. The State Bank of Vietnam set a 2026 credit-growth target of 15% after a 19% outcome in 2025, and Fitch expects banking-sector credit to reach roughly 155% of GDP, against a projected BB median of 52%. S&P on August 24 kept Vietnam at BB+ with a stable outlook. Moody's on May 4 affirmed Ba2 and changed the outlook to positive, citing improving governance.
The State Bank of Vietnam this year raised the ceiling on private-sector foreign borrowing to $6.1 billion from $5.5 billion in 2025. In January, Reuters reported a separate plan to secure $5.5 billion of foreign loans in 2026 to speed large infrastructure. A sovereign dollar bond would sit beside those official loans, not replace them.
A 7% coupon versus the 4.8% 2014 print
The coupon in the talks would be 2.2 percentage points above the 4.8% Vietnam paid on its last sovereign dollar bond. Vietnam Development Bank recorded that November 2014 sale as $1 billion of 10-year notes, with Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered hired for the roadshow. Hanoi had previously sold dollar bonds in 2005 at 6.875% and in 2010 at 6.755%. The 2014 notes were, at the time, the cheapest external coupon of the three.
The U.S. 10-year yield was 4.97% as of Monday, September 14.
The 10-year par yield closed at 4.97% on September 14
A 7% Vietnam coupon would sit just over 2 percentage points above that close. Reuters reported that 10-year yields had traded above 5% in Tuesday's early dealing. Coupon and yield are not the same number unless a bond is issued at par.
Recent Asian dollar sales set a lower bar, from higher-rated issuers. Indonesia priced a $1.1 billion 10-year tranche on January 12 at a 4.950% coupon and a 5.000% yield, part of a $2.7 billion SEC-registered offering. The Philippines on June 17 sold $1.65 billion of 10-year dollar bonds at a 5.355% reoffer yield. Mongolia, in a shorter six-year trade, priced $500 million at a 5.95% coupon and yield in March.
What a $1 billion print would change
What still trades as Vietnam dollar debt is not a market. Fitch still rates two 1998 Brady bonds: about $228.2 million of a par bond due March 12, 2028, and about $24.5 million of a floating-rate discount bond due March 13, 2028. Both are far below the size that liquid hard-currency indexes require. The 2014 4.8% notes are gone.
That is why the large U.S.-listed funds that hold dollar emerging-market government bonds have no Vietnam sovereign benchmark to own. The $14.2 billion iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF EMB, graded A by etf.net in hard-currency EM debt, tracks J.P. Morgan's Emerging Markets Bond Index Global Diversified Core, which requires a current face amount outstanding of $1 billion or more. The $6.7 billion Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF VWOB, also graded A in that category, tracks a Bloomberg index of dollar government and government-related emerging-market bonds. A $1 billion Vietnam issue would clear EMB's size bar; a $500 million print would not.
That size line is what the ministry's choice actually changes for holders of EMB: a bond that can enter the index that fund tracks, or one that cannot. No source has said either index would add it.
Frequently asked
Why would Vietnam borrow in dollars if it doesn't need to?
Two of the people said proceeds would fund infrastructure and other projects, and an external sale would ease pressure on Vietnamese banks that have been the main lenders for domestic investment.
Is a sale actually happening?
No sale has been approved, and officials say the ministry is still weighing borrowing costs against rising global yields, high oil prices and inflation.
How does a 7% coupon compare with what Vietnam paid last time?
It would be 2.2 percentage points above the 4.8% coupon on its last sovereign dollar bond, which matured in 2024.
Why does the deal size matter for ETF investors?
The index EMB tracks requires at least $1 billion of face amount outstanding, so a $1 billion print would clear that bar and a $500 million one would not, though no source has said the index would add it.