Government debt repayment on right track: Ministry

The ministry reported that in the first 10 months of this year, the Government repaid about 241 trillion VND (9.69 billion USD), fulfilling about 71.8% of the yearly plan, of which, domestic debt repayments hit 184 trillion VND, and foreign debt repayments reached 57 trillion VND.

Direct government debt repayment was about 220.1 trillion VND and on-lending was about 20.85 trillion VND, fulfilling 73.4% and 58% of the targets, respectively.

A representative of the Department of Debt Management and External Finance said that as of October 26, 906.1 million USD of the Government’s foreign loans had been withdrawn, of which 571.3 million USD had been allocated and about 334.8 million USD has been on-lent.

The figures were lower than those in the same period last year by 196 million USD, 233.3 million USD, and 27.3 million USD, respectively, it said.

According to the Finance Ministry, as of October, domestic and foreign loans stood at about 160.33 trillion VND (equivalent to 23.8% of the yearly plan), including 152.61 trillion VND worth of loans to the central budget (or 23.6% of the plan), and 7.72 trillion VND for on-lending (equivalent to 28.9% of the limit approved by the Government).

Meanwhile, the Government mobilised 139.43 trillion VND from Government bonds. Since the beginning of this year, the Government has also signed two foreign loan agreements with a total value of 184.6 million USD.

The ministry said that it is negotiating with international finance organisations such as the World Bank and the Export–Import Bank of Korea for more soft loans.