The Vietnamese government will set aside VND49.16 trillion (US$3.062 billion) to pay debts next year, according to the newly-approved Resolution on Central Budget Allocation 2007.
Out of the VND49.16 trillion, the government will spend VND37.99 trillion paying domestic loans, VND10.4 trillion for foreign loans and VND770 billion for aid.
According to the new resolution, total state budget revenue is estimated at over VND216 trillion and total state budget expenditure VND272.5 trillion in 2007.
Out of more than VND94 trillion which will be injected into socio-economic development, defense, security and administrative management next year, up to VND24.164 trillion will be used to pay pension and maintain social security; VND22.4 trillion to defense; VND11.9 trillion to state, party administrative management, and VND10.82 trillion to education-vocational training.
Meanwhile, the salary reform alone will eat up to VND23 trillion of the state budget.
Recently, vice chairman of the External Affair Committee Nguyen Ngoc Tran announced that the government’s debts in 2006 were 36.6 per cent of GDP and 37.2 per cent in 2007, rejecting allegations that total national debts already exceeded the safety threshold.
“However compared to the international safety threshold of 40 per cent of GDP, Vietnam is approaching the safety threshold,” Tran admitted.
In a bid to promote the transparency in the debt collection, processing and reporting, Vietnam will publish information on its external debts in detail on a regular basis, according to the Government’s recent decision.
Therefore, Vietnam’s foreign debt bulletins will be composed of data on the signing of foreign debt contracts, the payment, and the withdrawal of capital by the state and state-owned enterprises, the decision states.
VnExpress
Vietnamese
