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Public debt hits 56.7% of GDP
The Government estimates public debt will total about 56.7 per cent of gross domestic product by the end of the year.
The figure will include Government debt totalling 44.5 per cent of GDP and loans that it has guaranteed totalling 12.2 per cent of GDP.
Foreign debt will total 42.2 per cent of GDP.
The figures are revealed in Government estimates tabled in the National Assembly.
The report puts total tax revenue for the year at VND520 trillion, about US$27 billion, an increase of 12.7 per cent against the initial estimate and 17.6 per cent higher than 2009.
The report says the extra revenue will enable the Government to meet its fiscal obligations and reduce overspending to less than 6 per cent – 0.2 per cent lower than planned.
But most of the deputies at yesterday's plenary budget session were less than pleased with overspending of 6 per cent.
They want it reduced to less than 5 per cent.
And Deputy Nguyen Minh Thuyet of northern-border Lang Son Province disagreed with the way in which the figure of 56.7 per cent of GDP was calculated.
International practice would have had the money the banks and State-owned enterprises owe in the total, the deputy argued.
"Our public debt must be no less than 70 per cent of the country's GDP based on that definition," he said.
He asked the Government to provide a further explanation of the debt.
Deputies Do Thi Lan, of northern Quang Ninh Province, and Le Van Thanh, of Hai Phong City, asked the Government for stronger measures to keep overspending under 5 per cent, particularly its oversight of State-funded projects.
Inflation
Deputy Do Manh Hung from northern Thai Nguyen Province warned inflation could reach 9 per cent this year and he attributed the high figure to the Government's confused price administration.
The price of milk had increased tenfold since 2008, he said.
"Although the average Vietnamese income was among the world's lowest, the price for milk price is the highest," the deputy complained.
Social security
Many deputies asked the Government to restructure its spending and policies to make social welfare a major priority.
This included a social safety net and the mobilisation of social capital from various sources for development.
Deputy Nguyen Ngoc Dao of Ha Noi, said the 2011 Government budget should be written in the context of the changing world economy.
"The currency war is in the balance," he said.
"It's an objective condition, yet it will have a direct impact on our economy."
The deputy asked that the Government be more transparent about its spending and provide the laws necessary for this is done.
Many deputies wanted the Government to use the VND45 trillion ($ 2.3 billion) it intends to raise in the sale of bonds next year for rural infrastructure development; environmental protection and social security.
Deputy Danh Ut of southern Kien Giang Province, said investment in rural infrastructure would help narrow the rural-urban divide.
Securities Law
The National Assembly Standing Committee turned its attention to proposed admendments to the Law on Securities.
Economic Committee chairman Ha Van Hien said the scope of the amendments remained limited and were yet to comprehensively resolve all of the shortcomings which had interfered with the healthy development of the securities markets.
"The State Securities Commission has proposed that the drafters should add licensing conditions for the establishment of securities and fund management companies to ensure that these companies are fully capable of operating in the market," Hien said.
Members of Hien's committee had suggested including private offerings and share issues within the scope of administrative oversight under the law, and had proposed that provisions on the jurisdiction of the State Securities Commission to discover and prevent securities fraud to be included in the law.
According to Hien, however, many members of his committee had agreed not to change provisions on the legal capacity of the State Securities Commission as such changes would affect many other sections of the law.
More time would be needed to review and comprehensively evaluate the legal effect, he said.
Speaking at the meeting, the head of the National Assembly Office, Tran Dinh Dan, said lawmakers should take the time to carefully consider oversight and inspection provisions.
The National Assembly Standing Committee would not propose its supervision programme until next year, Dan noted.
The committee yesterday scheduled a question-and-answer session for March of next year, focusing on such issues as environmental policies in economic zones and craft villages. The National Assembly would hear petitions from voters at its 8th session in July of next year.
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