The first several months of 2009 saw the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) gradually lowering interest rates and consumer price inflation decelerating, thereby allowing Viet Nam's government bond yield curve to tighten by the end of June 2009 from its end-December 2008 position.

As of June 2009, Viet Nam's total VND-denominated bonds outstanding climbed by 6.1% year-on-year (y-o-y), or 2.4% on a quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) basis to VND212.7 trillion.  Both VND-denominated government and corporate bonds rose by 5.3% y-o-y and 30.8% y-o-y, respectively. Also, USD-denominated government bonds climbed to USD1.7 billion in June, from USD1.6 billion in March.

In June, Fitch Ratings downgraded Viet Nam's long-term local currency (LCY) issuer default rating to BB- from BB and affirmed the long-term foreign currency (FCY), short-term FCY issuer default rating, and country ceiling at BB, B, and BB-, respectively; and revised all rating outlooks to stable from negative.

In August, the SBV promulgated regulations on the domestic issuance of long-term valuable papers and on the use of short-term funds for medium to long-term loans. In the same month, the Viet Nam Bond Market Association (VBMA) was launched with more than fifty members.