Vietnam

The start date of economies' official BPM6-basis estimates can be found in the metadata table in the documentation
folder. The text below was confirmed as of 2011 as current by the economy for its BPM5 basis data. For a discussion
of the main rules that were followed in converting these data to a BPM6 basis, see Box 1 in the Introduction, “Balance
of Payments Statistics Methodology.”

I. General

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) is responsible for compiling and disseminating the balance of payments statistics.
The compilation system is based on data collection from the relevant government agencies and from the banking
system. The SBV disseminates balance of payments data annually in the SBV Annual Report. In general, the balance of
payments of Vietnam is compiled in conformity with the methodological principles set out in the IMF’s Balance of
Payments Manual, fifth edition (BPM5).

II. Specific Items: Balance of Payments

Current Account

Goods

The General Customs Department (GCD) collects international merchandise trade data at the 150 customs points
throughout the country. The data are collected on the basis of customs declaration forms and transmitted to Central
Customs in Hanoi. The valuation adjustment is undertaken by replacement of the prices declared beyond market value
with an approximation of market prices. The GCD reviews and classifies the data, based on the HS system, and
transmits it to the SBV and to the General Statistics Office (GSO). The GSO reclassifies the data under SITC codes.
The GSO also undertakes adjustments to these data to account for exports of energy and water, offshore sea products,
oil products, and smuggled goods (data on which are collected from GSO’s National Accounts Department). The final
official database on merchandise trade is transmitted to the SBV, usually with a one-year lag.

The data compiled by the GCD for exported goods are valued on an f.o.b. basis, whereas imported goods are valued on
a c.i.f. basis. A survey conducted by the GSO in 2005 revealed that transportation and insurance expenditures account
for 5.1 percent of the c.i.f. value of imports. The GSO updates this ratio annually. In 2008 and 2009, the ratio was 6.5
percent. In 2010, the ratio was 8.8 percent. In compiling the balance of payments data, the SBV deducts the estimates
of freight and insurance from the value of imports to derive the f.o.b. value of import of goods and adds these
deductions between residents and nonresidents to the services freight component.

Services

The GSO compiles data on international trade in services from the following main sources: (1) the general statistical
reporting by ministries, state-owned enterprises, corporations, and foreign direct investment companies in Vietnam;
(2) surveys of tourist expenditures and of insurance costs (for non-state-owned companies); and (3) the Census of
Service conducted by the GSO. These data are reconciled with data compiled from reports of the banking system.

Transportation

This category covers freight and passenger services for air and sea transport. The GSO uses information collected
directly from Vietnam Airlines Corporation and Vietnam National Shipping Lines Corporation.

Travel

The SBV compiles estimates of the travel component by combining data on tourist arrivals with estimates of their
average expenditures based on the result of the GSO survey on expenditures of foreign tourists visiting Vietnam. The
survey is conducted every two years.

Other services
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The data on financial, insurance, and other services are compiled from information sourced from the banking system
and Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Corporation. Data on government services, n.i.e. are sourced from the
Ministry of Finance (MOF).

Income

Income covers transactions between residents and nonresidents involving investment income receipts and payments on
external financial assets and liabilities. Included are receipts and payments on direct investments, portfolio
investments, other investments, external debt, and receipts on reserve assets. Compensation of employees is not
measured.

Investment income

The credit entries are collected mainly from the reports of the SBV and commercial banks and from the direct reports
on the investment income of Vietnamese enterprises making direct investment abroad in the oil and gas sector. The
debit entries relate to remittances of profits, interest, and dividends payable to nonresidents, as well as interest on
official loans. Data are compiled based on interest-due data collected by the MOF on ODA loans and by SBV on
commercial loans. The SBV calculates the data on FDI income payable based on income payments to foreign investors
reported by PetroVietnam. Estimates of income payments of non-oil FDI enterprises are based on their income tax
returns. Portfolio investment income is estimated using data from the banking sector and from the State Security
Commission (SSC).

Current transfers

General government

The current and capital transfers are not distinguished because the grants report of the Department of Loan
Management and External Finance of the MOF does not provide enough detail for such distinction. Therefore, all
grants are recorded as current transfers. Data on grants of Vietnam to other countries are not collected. Starting from
2008, the SBV collects data on the technical assistance to Vietnam based on the information from the Ministry of
Planning and Investment (MPI).

Other sectors

Data on private transfers are collected from the banking system and nonbank financial organizations—agents for
payments of remittances. These data are augmented by information from the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication
and the GCD estimates on the cross-border transfers in cash.

Financial Account

Direct investment

To derive data on direct investment in Vietnam, the MPI conducts a survey of all registered companies. For their
territories, all provinces are authorized to manage, license, and collect the FDI data of companies with foreign capital.
The MPI gathers data from the provinces and prepares a monthly report to the government. However, data on
disbursed capital do not cover the split between liabilities to parent company and liabilities to other nonresidents, and
they do not contain information on retained and repatriated income.

Starting from 2005, the SBV estimates direct investment abroad based on data provided by the MPI.

Portfolio investment

The portfolio investment account was established in the balance of payments with the data available starting from
2005. Data comprise the recording of transactions related to the international issuance of sovereign bonds (portfolio
investments liabilities, bonds, and notes of the general government). From 2006, data also include transactions in the
portfolio investments liabilities for other sectors. The SSC is a core data provider for other sectors. However, these
data have some limitations because the current statistics do not distinguish between resident and nonresident foreign
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investors. These data are augmented by information from the commercial banks on investments in unlisted companies.
From 2009, portfolio investment abroad of commercial banks was added to this category. These data were derived
from the monetary survey of credit institutions.

Other investment

Data on general government transactions are obtained from the MOF. For banks’ other investment transactions, the
SBV obtains data directly from commercial bank records. The SBV also monitors borrowing and repayment of foreign
loans by resident banks and nonbank legal institutional units and individuals. Other investment transactions in the form
of bank deposits are estimated as changes in stocks of outstanding foreign assets and liabilities, based on commercial
banks’ balance sheets, and converted to U.S. dollars using the exchange rate of the end of period; thus, they include
valuation changes. Other investment of other sectors was established from 2009 to cover the foreign exchange
acquisition of households.

Reserve assets

From 2010, as recommended by the IMF, net foreign assets of the SBV was no longer used. Gross International
Reserves was used to calculate the overall balance. Data are derived from the balance sheet as a change in stocks and
are converted to U.S. dollars using the exchange rate of the end of the period.