Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) The Law on Public Debt Management should endorse several legal documents into law and add new content acquired through international experience, Deputy Finance Minister Truong Chi Trung told a workshop in Hanoi on September 21 reviewing five years of its enforcement.
Victoria Kwakwa, Country Director of the World Bank in Vietnam, urged Vietnam to improve its fiscal policy and pledged to provide technical support to the Finance Ministry in public debt management with a view to ensure debt safety and national financial security.
Participants debated ways to create a synchronous legal environment and a set of good practices in lending administration.
Truong Hung Long, Head of the Finance Ministry’s Department of Debt Management and External Finance (DMEF), credited the law with making public debt lending and payment activities more open and transparent.
In late 2014, public debt stood at more than 2.3 trillion VND (104.5 million USD), or 59.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). The figure is predicted to rise to 62.3 percent later this year, which is still below the 65 percent ceiling set by the National Assembly.
The law has also broadened the scale of the domestic bond market from 2.8 percent of GDP in 2001 to 19 percent in 2011 and 21.2 percent in 2014. The government bonds and government-guaranteed bonds market made up nearly 19 percent of GDP last year.
Long pointed out existing flaws related to the debt ceiling, debt management skills and the relationship between debt management and fiscal policy.
He also requested the rights and responsibility of legislative and judicial agencies, ministries, agencies, localities, businesses and public debt users be clarified.
The event was co-hosted by the DMEF and the WB.-VNA
