Law on amendments to the Law on public debt management of Vietnam 2025

 

LAW

ON AMENDMENTS TO THE LAW ON PUBLIC DEBT MANAGEMENT

Pursuant to the Constitution 2013 of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam as amended and supplemented by Resolution No. 203/2025/QH15;

The National Assembly hereby promulgates the Law on amendments to the Law on public debt management No. 20/2017/QH14, as amended by Law No. 90/2025/QH15.

Article 1. Amendments to the Law on public debt management

1. Amendments to a number of Clauses of Article 3 are as follows:

a) Amendments to Clause 4 as follows:

“4. Borrowing means the process of creating debt obligations through the issuance of debt instruments or through the conclusion and implementation of agreements, treaties, contracts, or other documents, regardless of their titles, on capital borrowing.”;

b) Amendments to Clause 21 are as follows:

“21. Government guarantee ceiling means the total maximum value of loans, bond issuances, and other debt instruments guaranteed by the Government in a year or in a five-year period, as determined in the annual public debt borrowing and repayment plan and the five-year public debt borrowing and repayment plan decided by the competent authority.”;

c) Clauses 23 and 24 are added after Clause 22 as follows:

“23. International treaty on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing means a written agreement concluded in the name of the State or the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam with a foreign lender that is a country, an international organization, or another entity recognized as a subject of international law, giving rise to, modifying, or terminating the rights and obligations of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam under international law in relation to the receipt, management, and use of ODA loans and concessional foreign loans, regardless of the title of such document.

24. ODA loan agreement and concessional foreign loan agreement means a written agreement concluded in the name of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam with a foreign lender that is an agency or organization representing governments, a bank, a credit institution, or a foreign financial institution, giving rise to, modifying, or terminating the rights and obligations of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in relation to the receipt, management, and use of ODA loans and concessional foreign loans; such agreement is not an international treaty, regardless of its title.”.

2. Amendments to certain points and clauses of Article 4:

a) Point c Clause 1 is amended as follows:

“c) Debts of the central budget borrowed from the state treasury and state financial funds outside the state budget.”;

b) Point c Clause 3 is amended as follows:

“c) Debts of local budgets borrowed from policy banks, the state treasury, and other domestic borrowing sources in accordance with the law on the state budget.”.

3. Clause 6 is added after Clause 5 of Article 5 as follows:

“6. All debt obligations of the Government shall be treated equally.”.

4. Amendments to Article 12 are as follows:

“Article 12. Tasks and powers of the President

1. Decide on negotiation, signing, ratification, and amendments, extensions, or termination of validity of international treaties on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing concluded in the name of the State.

2. Request the Government to report on the public debt situation, public debt safety indicators, and the negotiation, signing, and ratification of international treaties on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing concluded in the name of the State, when necessary.”.

5. Amendments to a number of Clauses of Article 13 are as follows:

a) Clause 4 is amended as follows:

“4. Decide on the annual Government guarantee ceiling in cases where the growth rate of outstanding Government-guaranteed debt exceeds the growth rate of gross domestic product of the preceding year.”;

b) Addition of Clause 7 after Clause 6 as follows:

“7. Decide on the signing, approval, amendments, extensions, or termination of validity of international treaties on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing concluded in the name of the Government.”.

6. Amendments to a number of Clauses of Article 14 are as follows:

a) Amendments to Clause 2 as follows:

“2. Decide on the annual public debt borrowing and repayment plan, including the on-lending borrowing ceiling and the annual Government guarantee ceiling, except for cases concerning the Government guarantee ceiling prescribed in Clause 4 Article 13 of this Law.”;

b) Clause 6a is added after Clause 6; Clause 7 is amended and Clause 7a is added after Clause 7 as follows:

“6a. Approve proposals for ODA loans and concessional foreign loans.

7. Submit to the President for decision on negotiation, signing, ratification, and amendments, extensions, or termination of validity of international treaties on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing concluded in the name of the State.

7a. Decide on and direct the negotiation of international treaties on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing concluded in the name of the Government; decide on the signing and amendments or extensions of ODA loan agreements and concessional foreign loan agreements concluded in the name of the Government where such amendments or extensions increase the Government’s foreign debt repayment obligations.”.

7. Amendments to certain points of Clause 1 Article 15 as follows:

a) Points d, dd), and e are amended as follows:

“d) Formulate and submit to the Government the Scheme on issuance of Government bonds on the international capital market; submit to the Government and the Prime Minister the annual on-lending borrowing ceiling and the annual Government guarantee ceiling;

dd) Formulate and submit to the Prime Minister for decision on annual public debt borrowing and repayment plan, issuance of Government bonds on the international capital market, use of the Debt repayment accumulation fund to address risks related to on-lending and Government guarantees, the Debt restructuring scheme, amendments, extensions of ODA loan agreements and concessional foreign loan agreements concluded in the name of the Government where such amendments or extensions increase the Government’s foreign debt repayment obligations, and the granting of Government guarantees for individual programs and projects;

e) Formulate and submit to the Government and the Prime Minister matters concerning the negotiation, signing, ratification, approval, amendments, extensions, or termination of validity of international treaties and agreements on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing;”;

b) Point i is amended as follows:

“i) On-lending of ODA loans and concessional foreign loans;”;

c) Point p is amended and Points q and r are added after Point p as follows:

“p) Inspect the implementation of legal regulations on public debt management;

q) Decide on amendments or extensions of ODA loan agreements and concessional foreign loan agreements concluded in the name of the Government where such amendments or extensions do not increase the Government’s foreign debt repayment obligations;

r) Submit to the Prime Minister for approval proposals for ODA loans and concessional foreign loans for programs and projects.”.

8. Amendments to a number of Clauses of Article 24 are as follows:

a) Amendments to Clause 4 as follows:

“4. The annual Government guarantee ceiling shall be prescribed as follows:

a) Within the five-year Government guarantee ceiling decided by the National Assembly;

b) The growth rate of outstanding Government-guaranteed debt shall not exceed the growth rate of gross domestic product of the preceding year. Where it exceeds the growth rate of gross domestic product of the preceding year, the Ministry of Finance shall submit it to the Government for decision. The Government shall provide elaboration of this Point.”;

b) Clause 6 is amended and Clause 6a is added after Clause 6 as follows:

“6. Based on the total annual borrowing and repayment level of the state budget decided by the National Assembly, the Ministry of Finance shall formulate the annual public debt borrowing and repayment plan and submit it to the Prime Minister for approval.

6a. The Ministry of Finance shall announce the annual public debt borrowing and repayment plan after the Prime Minister approves such plan.”;

c) Clause 8 is added after Clause 7 as follows:

“8. The Government shall provide elaboration of this Article.”.

9. Amendments to Article 29 are as follows:

“Article 29. ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing

1. Ministries, central agencies, province-level People’s Committees, and state-owned enterprises shall submit proposals for ODA loans and concessional foreign loans to the Ministry of Finance.

2. A loan proposal shall include the following contents:

a) Proposed foreign lender;

b) Value of the foreign loan and proposed loan conditions;

c) Purpose of capital use and proposed disbursement schedule;

d) Domestic financial mechanism and proposed sources of debt repayment;

dd) Documents evidencing the interest of the foreign lender (if any).

3. Approval by the Prime Minister of a loan proposal shall serve as the basis for the proposing agency to carry out investment procedures for programs and projects in accordance with the law on public investment and the law on investment.

4. The conclusion of international treaties and agreements on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing for programs and projects shall meet the following conditions:

a) Completion of investment procedures in accordance with law;

b) The international treaties and agreements on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing are approved for signing by the competent authority.

5. Allocation and use of ODA loans and concessional foreign loans shall be ensured in a stringent and effective manner in accordance with the following principles:

a) Allocation for programs and projects falling within expenditure tasks of the central budget;

b) On-lending and allocation to province-level People’s Committees and public sector entities;

c) On-lending to enterprises.

6. Negotiation, signing, ratification, approval, amendments, extensions, and termination of validity of international treaties and agreements on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing:

a) For international treaties on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing concluded in the name of the State, the Prime Minister shall submit them to the President for decision on negotiation, signing, ratification, amendments, extensions, and termination of validity;

b) For international treaties on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing concluded in the name of the Government, the Prime Minister shall decide on negotiation; the Government shall decide on signing, approval, amendments, extensions, and termination of validity;

c) For agreements on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing concluded in the name of the Government, the Prime Minister shall decide on signing and amendments or extensions where such amendments or extensions increase the Government’s foreign debt repayment obligations;

d) Where an international treaty on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing may be applied immediately and does not require amendments, annulment, or promulgation of new legal normative documents, the proposal for signing and ratification or approval may be made concurrently.

dd) Where the foreign lender does not require the issuance of a letter of authorization for negotiation of an international treaty, based on the approval of the President and the Prime Minister, the agency taking charge of negotiation shall carry out the negotiation of the international treaty with the foreign lender;

e) For international treaties on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing, the proposing agency may concurrently seek inspection opinions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, appraisal opinions from the Ministry of Justice, and opinions from relevant agencies on the proposal for signing;

g) In cases of amendments, extensions of international treaties on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing, inspection opinions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and appraisal opinions from the Ministry of Justice are not required when submitting them to the competent authority for decision;

h) For international treaties on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing, after signing, it is not required to carry out procedures for submission for approval of the implementation plan;

i) Procedures for negotiation, signing, ratification, approval, amendments, extensions, performance, and termination of validity of international treaties on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing shall be in accordance with Government regulations.

7. Provisions relating to international treaties on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing that are not stipulated in this Law shall be implemented in accordance with the law on international treaties and other relevant laws.

8. Funds for activities of negotiation, signing, amendments, extensions, ratification, approval, termination of validity, and implementation of international treaties and agreements on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing shall be covered by the state budget.

9. The Government shall elaborate this Article.”.

10. Amendments to Clause 1 Article 30 are as follows:

“1. Other domestic loans of the Government shall be carried out in accordance with decisions of the competent authority or loan agreements, including borrowing from state financial funds outside the state budget, the state treasury, and borrowing from financial institutions and credit institutions under loan agreements.”.

11. Clause 2 is amended and Clause 3 is added after Clause 2 of Article 31 as follows:

“2. For programs and projects whose on-lending beneficiaries are province-level People’s Committees, the Ministry of Finance shall assess whether the conditions for on-lending are met and shall sign on-lending contracts.

3. For programs and projects whose on-lending beneficiaries are enterprises or public sector entities, policy banks and commercial banks selected in accordance with Article 35 of this Law shall carry out on-lending appraisal. The Ministry of Finance shall consider on-lending and shall sign on-lending authorization contracts with policy banks and commercial banks.”.

12. Amendments to Clause 1 Article 32 are as follows:

“1. The Government shall be responsible for full and timely repayment of Government debts.  The level of new borrowing for repayment of principal of the central budget shall fall within the total annual borrowing level of the central budget decided by the National Assembly.”.

13. Amendments to Clause 6 Article 34 are as follows:

“6. On-lending borrowers that are enterprises or public sector entities shall have a financial plan whose feasibility is appraised by the competent authority in accordance with Article 38 of this Law.”.

14. Amendments to Article 35 are as follows:

“Article 35. On-lending methods

1. The Ministry of Finance shall provide on-lending to province-level People’s Committees to carry out programs and projects for socio-economic development investment falling within expenditure tasks of local budgets in accordance with the law on the state budget.

2. The Ministry of Finance shall authorize policy banks or commercial banks to carry out on-lending under the method whereby the on-lending agency does not bear credit risk for public sector entities that are fully self-financing for recurrent expenditure and investment expenditure.

3. The Ministry of Finance shall authorize policy banks or commercial banks to carry out on-lending under the method whereby the on-lending agency bears part of the credit risk for enterprises investing in programs and projects on the State’s priority investment list and for public sector entities that are self-financing for recurrent expenditure and part of investment expenditure.

4. The Ministry of Finance shall authorize commercial banks to carry out on-lending under the method whereby the on-lending agency bears full credit risk for enterprises investing in production and business projects.

5. Commercial banks prescribed in Clauses 2, 3, and 4 of this Article shall meet the condition of having experience as authorized on-lending agencies for programs and projects using ODA loans and concessional foreign loans of the Government and having a credit rating assigned by an international credit rating organization at a level equal to or not more than one notch lower than the sovereign credit rating of Vietnam.

6. On-lending of ODA loans and concessional foreign loans of the Government carried out by policy banks and commercial banks in accordance with Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article shall not be included in the total outstanding credit balance for a single customer or a customer and its related persons at such policy banks and commercial banks in accordance with the Law on Credit Institutions.

7. The Government shall elaborate this Article.”.

15. Amendments to certain points and clauses of Article 36:

a) Amendments to point a Clause 2 are as follows:

“a) Being self-financing for recurrent expenditure and part of investment expenditure; being fully responsible for the efficiency of use of borrowed capital and debt repayment in accordance with law;”;

b) Point c Clause 2 is amended as follows:

“c) Having a financial plan whose feasibility is appraised by the competent authority in accordance with Article 38 of this Law;”;

c) Point dd) Clause 2 is amended as follows:

“dd) Carry out loan security in accordance with Government regulations on on-lending of ODA loans and concessional foreign loans.”.

d) Amendments to point a clause 3 as follows:

“a) Having legal person status, being lawfully established in Vietnam; having an operating period of at least 3 years, except for cases where an enterprise carries out mergers, consolidations, organizational restructuring, or other rearrangements under the direction of the competent authority;”.

dd) Amendments to point c clause 3 as follows:

“c) Having a financial plan whose feasibility is appraised by the competent authority in accordance with Article 38 of this Law;”;

e) Amendments to point dd clause 3 as follows:

“dd) Not incurring losses in the most recent three consecutive years according to audited financial statements, except for cases where an enterprise is rated by one of the international credit rating organizations that have conducted sovereign credit ratings for Vietnam at a level equal to or not more than one notch lower than the national credit rating;”.

16. Amendments to point b clause 2 Article 37:

“b) Where the on-lending agency does not bear credit risk, the on-lending risk provision shall be remitted to the Debt repayment accumulation fund. Where the on-lending agency bears full credit risk, the on-lending risk provision shall be remitted to the on-lending agency. The Government shall provide elaboration on the rate of appropriation of on-lending risk provisions in cases where policy banks or commercial banks authorized to conduct on-lending bear part of the credit risk in accordance with Clause 3 Article 35 of this Law;”.

17. Amendments to the title and a number of points and clauses of Article 38 are as follows:

a) The title and Clause 1 of Article 38 are amended as follows:

“Article 38. Assessment and appraisal for on-lending

1. The Ministry of Finance shall assess whether province-level People’s Committees meet the conditions for on-lending prescribed in Clause 1 Article 36 of this Law.”;

b) Amendment to Point d Clause 2 is as follows:

“d) Based on appraisal result reports and relevant documents, the Ministry of Finance shall consider and arrange the on-lending.”.

18. Amendments to certain points and clauses of Article 43:

a) Amendments to Point b Clause 1 as follows:

“b) Not incurring losses in the most recent three consecutive years according to audited financial statements, except for cases where an enterprise is rated by one of the international credit rating organizations that have conducted sovereign credit ratings for Vietnam at a level equal to or not more than one notch lower than the national credit rating;”;

b) Amendments to Point dd Clause 1 as follows:

“dd) The guarantee amount falls within the annual Government guarantee ceiling approved by the Government or the Prime Minister;”;

c) Amendments to Point d Clause 2 as follows:

“b) The guarantee amount falls within the annual Government guarantee ceiling approved by the Government or the Prime Minister;”.

19. Amendments to Point a Clause 1 Article 53 as follows:

“a) For issuance of local government bonds on the domestic capital market, province-level People’s Committees shall formulate a Bond issuance scheme and submit it to provincial-level People’s Councils for approval;”.

20. Amendments to Clause 3 Article 59 are as follows:

“3. The Ministry of Finance shall formulate, uniformly manage, and utilize the public debt database, and shall apply science, technology, and digital transformation in public debt management.”.

21. Clause 1 is amended and Clause 1a is added after Clause 1 of Article 60 as follows:

“1. Annually or upon request, the Government shall report to the National Assembly, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, and the President information on public debt, including:

a) The public debt situation and performance of public debt safety indicators, including data on outstanding debt, debt structure, creditors, borrowing currencies, the on-lending situation, and the granting and management of Government guarantees;

b) The status of implementation of borrowing and repayment plans of the Government and local authorities;

c) The situation of negotiation and conclusion of international treaties and agreements on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing;

d) On-lending projects and Government-guaranteed projects encountering difficulties in debt repayment and cases where the Debt repayment accumulation fund has advanced payments in lieu of debtors, with details by each project;

dd) The situation of management and use of the Debt repayment accumulation fund, including data on opening balances, revenues, expenditures incurred during the period, and closing balances;

e) The status of implementation of resolutions of the National Assembly and the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on public debt;

g) Other related information.

1a. On a monthly basis, the Ministry of Finance shall report information on public debt in accordance with Government regulations.”.

22. Amendments to certain points and clauses of Article 61:

a) Amendments to Clause 1 as follows:

“1. Public debt information and data to be disclosed shall include:

a) Public debt safety indicators prescribed in Article 21 of this Law;

b) Public debt data prescribed in Article 4 of this Law, including Government debt, Government-guaranteed debt (including advances made from the Debt repayment accumulation fund), and local government debt;

c) The annual public debt borrowing and repayment plan.”;

b) Point c Clause 4 is amended as follows:

“c) Publications or other forms on electronic media.”;

c) Clauses 5 and 6 are amended as follows:

“5. The Government shall provide elaboration on the timing, periods, and contents of public debt information and data to be disclosed as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article.

6. Ministries, ministerial agencies, province-level People’s Committees, on-lending agencies, and relevant agencies and organizations shall be responsible for cooperating with the Ministry of Finance in reconciling and certifying public debt data and related data. The Government shall provide elaboration on the responsibilities of relevant agencies and units to ensure timely disclosure of information.”.

23. Annulment of Clause 1 Article 14, Clause 8 Article 14, Clause 2 Article 17, Article 23, and Point a Clause 3 Article 30.

Article 2. Entry into force

1. This Law comes into force as of January 1, 2026.

2. Clauses 11a and 11b are added after Clause 11 Article 4 of the Law on corporate income tax No. 67/2025/QH15 as follows:

“11a. Income of investors from interest on Vietnam Government bonds.

11b. Income of foreign lenders from interest and fees arising from loans to the State and the Government of Vietnam.”.

Article 3. Transition clause

1. For programs and projects whose program or project proposals or investment policy decisions were approved before the effective date of this Law, procedures for proposing loans are not required; where there are changes involving an increase in the loan value after the effective date of this Law, procedures for proposing loans shall be carried out in accordance with Clause 9 Article 1 of this Law.

2. For programs and projects applying special public debt mechanisms under resolutions of the National Assembly, ministries, central agencies, province-level People’s Committees, and state-owned enterprises selected may continue to apply such mechanisms in accordance with the issued resolutions or in accordance with this Law.

3. For international treaties and agreements on ODA borrowing and concessional foreign borrowing for which the proposing agency submitted applications to the competent authority for negotiation, signing, ratification, approval, amendments, or extensions before the effective date of this Law, implementation shall continue in accordance with the Law on public debt management No. 20/2017/QH14, as amended by Law No. 90/2025/QH15.

4. Programs and projects for which the Prime Minister approved financial mechanisms and on-lending conditions before the effective date of this Law shall continue to be carried out in accordance with the approved mechanisms.

This Law was adopted by the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 15th Legislature, at its 10th Session on December 10, 2025.