Hanoi (VNA) – International experts sharedexperience in public debt management and gave recommendations to Vietnam at a consultationworkshop in Hanoi on August 17.

Such recommendations are expected to help theMinistry of Finance complete its mid-term review of the five-year plan forpublic debt borrowing and repayment for the 2021-2025 period.

The workshop was held by the ministry in coordinationwith the World Bank and the Swiss State Secretariat of Economic Affairs.

Representatives from ministries, agencies andlocalities also shared views on the mobilisation and use of loans in theperiod.

According to Truong Hung Long, head of the Departmentof Debt Management and External Finance under the finance ministry, Vietnam hasbecome a middle-income country, meaning official development assistance (ODA) loans tothe country will be gradually cut off in the time ahead.

The proportion of concessional loans and loans undermarket conditions will increase, leading to an increase in borrowing costs,especially in the context that world interest rates remained high, hecontinued.

Long highlighted outstanding achievements Vietnam has recorded in public debt management over the past time, saying public debt safetyhas been maintained within the limit approved by the National Assembly.

Thanks to such efforts, both Moody’s and S&P, thetwo international credit rating agencies, upgraded Vietnam’s ratings, whileFitch maintained its ratings last year, the official noted.

Andrea Coppola, the WB’s Lead Country Economist, laudedVietnam’s reforms in public debt management in terms of legal framework and institutionalmanagement.

Vietnam will need more investment with themiddle-income status, and the upper income status in the future, he pointedout, urging the country to post higher growth.

However, it is not easy as climate change is posing ahost of challenges to the Southeast Asian nation, and in that context, thecountry should further reform its debt management, he said.

The Department of Debt Management and External Financesaid in implementing the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 23/2021/QH15 on thenational financial plan and public debt borrowing and repayment for the 2021 –2025 period, targets set by the legislature have all been achieved, with the Government’stotal loans reaching about 1.37 quadrillion VND (57.4 billion USD)./.