The Ministry of Finance plans to issue an additional US$1 billion worth of ten-year government bonds for the international market to restructure public debts. — Photo kinhdoanhnet

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Ministry of Finance plans to issue an additional US$1 billion worth of ten-year government bonds for the international market to restructure public debts.

Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung announced the plan at a meeting of the finance sector on December 24, the local press reported.

The ministry had successfully issued $1 billion in sovereign bonds to swap with old debts in early November. These had an annual interest rate of 4.8 per cent.

Viet Nam will not pursue overseas commercial loans with high interest rates and short terms in 2015 to balance the state's budget in a bid to ensure public debt security, Dung disclosed.

He added that the states agencies will also limit vehicular purchases and drastically cut back on convention and assignment expenses. "In future, we aim to publicise the expenditure on foreign mission trips of [officials] of sectors and localities."

State Bank of Viet Nam Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong shared during the banking conference on the same day that expediting bad debt restructuring and continuing to reorganise credit institutions will be major tasks for 2015. These measures will be adopted to help the nation reach its target credit growth of 13–15 per cent next year. — VNS