A delegation of the World Bank has arrived in Vietnam to help make assessment on the Southeast Asian nation’s management over public debt, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported last week. The assessment will be based on DeMPA (Debt Management Performance Assessment Tool) that consists of 15 criteria to gauge the strength and weakness in public debt management. The WB delegation, at an invitation of the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance, is expected to release its evaluation results including the efficiency of public debt management and the discovery of existing drawbacks within next 8-10 weeks. Recommendations will then be put forward to the government for appropriate adjustments on WB’s technical assistance with a view to enhance public debt management. The assessment will focus on specific areas such as legal framework, structure of debt management agencies, evaluation of debt management and auditing, the collaboration of debt management and fiscal policies, monetary policies, overseas borrowing, cash flow management, risk management and the compliance with the international practice. Vietnam’s public debt is predicted to widen to 57% of GDP in 2011, from 52.6% in 2010 and 47.5% in 2009. Economists forecast that the growth of Vietnam’s public debt is likely to halt temporarily but will rise gradually to hit 64% of gross domestic products (GDP) by 2015 and 80% of GDP by 2020. They have said public debts would be the top concern of almost all governments worldwide this year, urging Vietnam to gradually reduce its reliance on foreign debts. (Tuoi Tre – Youth Sept 30)
