VietNamNet Bridge - At a recent conference to review the operation of the finance and banking sector in 2014, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung said that Vietnam would issue an additional $1 billion of government bonds to the international market, with a 10-year period to restructure debt. The time of issuance was not announced.

In early November 2014, the Ministry of Finance successfully sold $1 billion government bonds of 10-year term to restructure foreign loans at high interest rates. This lot of bonds has a fixed interest rate of 4.8% a year, lower than the expected rate of 5.125%, the lowest interest rates ever. Previously, Vietnam’s international bonds issued in 2005 and 2010 had interest rates of 6.875% and 6.755%, respectively.

At that time, the Ministry of Finance said that Vietnam would take advantage of the favorable development in the international capital market to further issue international bonds to actively restructure the existing debt portfolio.

At the last session of the National Assembly in October, the government report said that by the end of 2014, Vietnam’s public debt was approximately 60.3% of GDP. In 2015, the figure will be about 64%, almost touching the ceiling of 65% allowed by the National Assembly.

Many deputies voiced concerns over the figure. However, the Finance Minister affirmed that Vietnam always guarantees prompt payment of foreign debts and he also acknowledged that the debt structure is unsustainable. The government had to issue bonds for a total amount of approximately VND137 trillion in the past three years.

Mai Loan