HANOI, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's public debt was 94 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2015, or 61 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), local media on Friday quoted the country's Finance Ministry as reporting.
Of the public debt, external debt was over 39.6 billion dollars, and internal debt was more than 54 billion dollars, daily newspaper Tuoi Tre (Youth) cited the ministry's latest public debt bulletin.
In 2015, the Vietnamese government borrowed total loans of 52 billion dollars, mostly internal debt, much higher than the figure in 2011.
Meanwhile, the government paid over 13.3 billion dollars to creditors, mostly local ones.
Since 2013, the government has borrowed money mostly from internal sources, limiting its external debt.
Vietnam's budget revenue over GDP decreased from 26.3 percent in the 2006-2010 period to 23.6 percent of GDP between 2011 and 2016, newspaper Nhan Dan (People) quoted Vietnamese Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung as saying.
The country's tax policy system will be revised to cover all revenue sources and expand the collection base, especially in regards to new revenue sources in line with international practice.
Vietnam is trying to keep its public debt below 65 percent of GDP between 2016 and 2018, online newspaper VietNamNet reported.
