Vietnam’s public debt remains within the limit approved by the National Assembly, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dao Quang Thu has said.

Thu made the affirmation during a workshop organised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment in Hanoi on November 13, which focused on the project “Defining the limit of public debt and safe public debt ceiling of Vietnam in the 2014-2020 period”.

Thu said the project aims to clarify theoretical and practical issues on the issue, the determination of public debt, the limit and ceiling of public debt, and international experience in the field, thus proposing measures to perfect the country’s public debt policy.

According to a report released by the Ministry’s Policy and Development Academy (PDA), public debt and the risk of public debt crisis is a burning economic issue in many countries and regions worldwide.

In Vietnam, this issue has been paid special attention by the National Assembly, Government and researchers. However, there remain different opinions in determining the country’s safe limit of public debt.

Vietnam needs to take steps suitable for the country’s political and economic institutions to prevent unwanted impacts of public debt on the national economy, said Dao Van Hung, Director of the academy.

According to international practice, public debt safety criteria are defined based on key elements such as the quality and risk of public debt, its impact on the macro economy, the efficiency of development investment capital use and national trust index.

The Government recently noted that public debt has increased rapidly, from 51.7 percent of the GDP in 2010 to 60.3 percent at the end of this year.

However, the rate is still within the acceptable level in line with the National Assembly’s resolution, the Government affirmed.

The Government is resolved to keep strict control of public debt, particularly new loans, to ensure the debt ratio is within the permitted level while tightening the monitoring and inspection of the use of capital from this source.

At the same time, the Government will take urgent measures to restructure public debt in the direction of raising the ratio of long-term, low-interest borrowing.

The Government’s resolution also instructed the Government Inspectorate to coordinate with other ministries, agencies and local governments to timely deal with complaints and petitions, particularly those involving a large number of people and having been delayed for a long time.-VNA