HANOI, April 11 (AFP) - Vietnam reacted angrily Tuesday to a gloomy annual report from credit ratings agency Moody's, saying it "lacks objectivity and does not reflect the facts of the Vietnamese economy."
"The Vietnamese government is continuing to promote economic reform and set out economic solutions to develop the country's economy," the foreign ministry said in response to Moody's criticism of its lack of progress in advancing reforms.
"In 1999, 370 state-owned enterprises were equitized and in the coming time Vietnam will complete the policy of equitization in accordance with the enterprise law," the ministry said.
Cuts in duties and preferential credits to exporters had boosted exports to 2.39 billion dollars in the first quarter, an increase of 33 percent on the previous year, the ministry said.
It strongly denied Moody's charge that the government was hesitating in allowing further foreign participation in the economy.
In 1999 the government licensed 275 new joint ventures with foreign firms, with a total registered capital of 1.74 billion, it said.
And at its next session in May, parliament was due to consider a bill to further stimulate foreign investment, it added.
In its annual report released in New York last Thursday, Moody's warned that the outlook for Vietnam's international credit rating remained negative.
"Incomplete reform heightens risks to the strength of Vietnam's balance of payments, the medium-term performance of its economy and the durability of the country's past accomplishments in structural reform," the report by senior analyst Thomas Byrne said.
The report said the government appeared to be blocking further foreign participation in the economy out of fear that it would make the country vulnerable to the sort of political turmoil which hit some of its neighbours in the wake of the Asian financial crisis.
Moody's has assigned a B1 sovereign rating to Vietnam.