VietNamNet Bridge – Last year saw public and Government debts in 2016 approaching the permissible ceilings set by the Nation Assembly (NA), according to a Ministry of Finance report.

Illustrative image -- File photo

The report, which came out last Friday, showed that public debt had accounted for 64.73% of gross domestic product (GDP) and Government debt had made up 53.62% of GDP by the end of 2016.

The NA’s resolution on the 2016-2020 financial plan sets the cap for public debt at 65% of GDP and that for Government debt at 54% of GDP. It was passed at a NA meeting in early November last year.

The Ministry of Finance said in the report that public debt had stayed at allowable levels.

The Government’s domestic debt had accounted for 59% and its foreign debt for 41% by end-2016. The respective percentages in 2011 were 38.9% and 61.1%, 43.1% and 56.9% in 2012, 50% and 50% in 2013, 55.6% and 44.4% in 2014, and 57% and 43% in 2015.

Vietnam signed 34 agreements on official development assistance (ODA) and preferential loans worth a combined US$5.2 billion last year, 1.5 times higher than in 2015.

According to the report, budget revenues had totaled an estimated VND1,094 trillion as of December 31, 2016, 7.8% higher than the full-year estimate. Of the amount, budget collections by provinces and cities were 18.6% higher than the estimate. Fifty-eight out of the country’s 63 provinces and cities met budget revenue targets.

SGT