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Vietnam’s public debt won’t exceed limit by 2020: minister
National debt and budget deficits overshadowed a press conference between the Vietnamese government and local media on Thursday, but top officials reassured them that solutions are available to keep public debt under control.
Vietnam’s government debt to GDP ratio is forecast to reach 61.3 percent by the end of this year, Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai told the meeting in Hanoi, saying it is well below the cap of 65 percent.
But the official would not elaborate on the specific volume of national debt, as well as where Vietnam will seek loans from to make up for the deficit.
Minister Nguyen Van Nen, chief of the Government Office, said the government has “prepared cautious solutions on borrowing and paying debts” for the 2016-20 period, and is now waiting for feedback from the lawmaking National Assembly.
“All of the proposed solutions ensure that the government debt will not breach the 65 percent cap by 2020,” the minister said without giving details.
Minister Nen added that Vietnam’s budget deficit is forecast at 4.9 percent of GDP in the next five years, significantly lower than the 5.4 percent estimated for 2011-15.
Vietnam’s GDP was $186.2 billion in 2014 and is expected to grow 6.2 percent this year, according to the World Bank.
The government also has solutions for achieving the target, which include improving the business environment, stabilizing the macro-economy and enhancing the tax system to ensure budget revenue, he added.
As for national debt management, the government is restructuring its debt by borrowing more long-term loans to reduce the repayment pressure on debts with shorter terms, according to the minister.
The Ministry of Finance sought approval from the Vietnamese legislature in mid-October to issue US$3 billion in overseas sovereign bonds in 2017 in order to restructure public debt.
Such a sovereign bonds issuance will “cause no change in the national debt,” Deputy Minister of Finance Do Hoang Anh Tuan asserted at a press meeting on Monday.
The Vietnamese government is expected to borrow VND3,020-3,090 trillion ($134.82 billion- $137.95 billion) in the next five years, according to a draft plan for the country’s eco-social development in 2016-2020.
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