Vietnam mulling incentives for long-term investors
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Vietnam is considering incentives to encourage long-term investment in its fledgling stock market and to deter short-term speculation, the chief executive of the country's stock exchange said Tuesday.
Tran Dac Sinh, the head of Ho Chi Minh City Securities Trading Center (HOSTC), said Vietnam was not considering capital controls but would look at specific measures to encourage longer-term investors.
"Right now, we need funds from foreign investors into Vietnam and will encourage them to be long-term investors," Sinh told reporters on the sidelines of a briefing in Singapore.
He said the government was still considering what sort of measures it may take, adding that incentives could be introduced for those who invested in Vietnam stocks for at least a year.
Vietnam was also considering specific measures to deter short-term investors, he said.
The market has been rife with speculation that Hanoi might introduce capital or currency controls on its exchange – one of the youngest but fastest-growing in the world – but the government has said it would not impose controls on foreign funds.
While it was ready to do anything to ensure "sustainable market development", it has also said it would be incorrect to control foreign investments.
Last year, Thailand's central bank shocked investors by imposing controls to curb sharp gains in the baht. Bui Van Tuynh, managing director of Daivet Securities Corp., told Reuters at the briefing that Vietnam was unlikely follow Thailand's move to impose capital controls.
The country's benchmark stock index rose 144.5 percent in 2006 and is already up about 55 percent so far this year. Sinh, who was in Singapore to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Singapore Exchange (SGX) to cooperate and share information, said he expected the market capitalization of the Vietnam bourse to double to $30 billion by the end of 2007.
At the briefing, SGX Chief Executive Hsieh Fu Hua said that apart from sharing information, the Singapore Exchange also would lend its expertise on technical issues to HOSTC.
In the longer term, the SGX wants to attract Vietnamese firms to seek secondary listings in Singapore. The SGX has already benefited from the listing of more than 100 Chinese companies.
Source: Reuters