Public Debt

Government agencies are working on new stimulus packages to channel the capital flows into priority fields.

The government expects a budget deficit of $86.7 billion, or 3.7% of the GDP, in the next five-year period.

In 2021, the government would borrow VND624.22 trillion (US$27.2 billion), including VND527.35 trillion (US$23 billion) from domestic source.

By 2025, Vietnam’s public debt is projected at 47.5% of the revised GDP (which is 25.4% higher than current method of GDP’s calculation), or 60.4% of the level before being revised.

While Vietnam is on track to witness the strongest growth in ASEAN this year, a weakening job market is the biggest risk to its economic recovery.

By the end of 2019, Vietnam’s public debt had significantly dropped to 55% of GDP from 63.7% in 2016.

The government is looking at loans and government bonds, among others, to meet growing demand of state expenditure.

For this year and early 2021, the PM expects fiscal deficit and public debt could widen by an additional 3–4 percentages of GDP to provide more support for enterprises.

In a worse scenario where GDP would expand 3.6% this year, Vietnam's fiscal deficit is forecast at 5.02% of GDP and public debt at 56.4%.

State-owned enterprises supply energy, transport, and water to millions in Asia and the world. Managing them better will help consumers and governments alike.