Vietnam aims at reduction in public debt ratio

By Nguyen Ha October 27, 2019 | 07:54 pm PT

An employee counts Vietnamese banknotes at a bank in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Anh Tu.

Vietnam aims to reduce its public debt by 3.4 percentage points to 52.7 percent of GDP in 2022, the Ministry of Finance says.

Currently, the nation's public debt stands at 56.1 percent of GDP this year and is set to reduce to 54.3 percent next year, the ministry said in a government budget report to the National Assembly.

The ratio will continue to fall to 53.3 percent in 2021 and 52.7 percent in 2022, the report said.

These targets are set in the context of economic growth being sustained at 6.8 percent a year in the 2020-2022 three-year period.

The government expects revenues of VND4,900 trillion ($210.56 billion) in the 2020-2022 period and expenditures of VND5,700 trillion ($224.94 billion), with increased allocation for investment and development.

Next year’s revenue is set to increase 3.8 percent from this year’s estimate to VND1,500 trillion ($64.46 billion).

The budget deficit next year is expected to be 3.44 percent of GDP, equivalent to VND234.8 trillion ($10.09 billion).