Vietnam's external debt rate is estimated at 37.5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2006, while the safety threshold, according to the international practice, is 50 percent of GDP, local newspaper New Hanoi reported Monday.

Vietnam's foreign debt, which annually represented, on average, nearly 35.6 percent of its GDP in the 2001-2005 period, is estimated at 37.5 percent in 2006, some 38 percent in 2007 and 2008, and over 37 percent in 2009 and 2010, the newspaper quoted data of the country's Finance Ministry.

Vietnam's foreign debt accounted for 39 percent of GDP in 2000, 37.4 percent in 2001, 34 percent in 2002 and 2003, 35.8 percent in 2004 and 36.6 percent in 2005.

The country's total foreign debts currently stand at 13-14 billion U.S. dollars, most of them are preferential loans, the newspaper said.

Foreign donors have pledged to give Vietnam 3.7 billion dollars of official development assistance (ODA) in 2006, up from 3.4 billion dollars in 2005.

According to foreign and local finance experts, Vietnam should pay attention to effectiveness of loan-powered projects when deciding to get foreign funds, and closely manage the borrowing and repayment of foreign loans among its enterprises.

Source: Xinhua