VietNamNet Bridge - As of December 31, 2010, Vietnam's total foreign debt is recorded at VND835 trillion (US$40.6 billion), accounting for 42.2% of the country’s GDP last year, the Finance Minister reported.
Japan and the International Development Association, a World Bank fund, are Vietnam’s biggest creditors with debt worth $6.1 billion and $8.4 billion respectively.

Other big creditors are the Asian Development Bank with $3.8 billion; private lenders, $2.4 billion; France, $1 billion; Russia, $579 million; and China, $448 million.

The ministry said foreign debts among domestic businesses have tended to increase in the first half of this year.

As the monetary and finance policies have recently been tightened, many companies fail to obtain loans from local banks, so they have to resort to foreign credits to satisfy their needs of capital for business development, the ministry said.

With such a situation, Vietnam’s foreign debt this year may account for 44.5 percent of the GDP, or 2.3 percent higher than in 2010, the Department of Debt Management and External Finance forecast.

This year, Vietnam will have to pay around $1.1 billion worth of principal and interest and the amount may surge to $1.95 billion in 2016, the department said.

Source: Tuoi Tre