Law on Public Debt Management 2025 (amended), No. 141/2025/QH15

LAW

Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Public Debt Management^[1]

Pursuant to the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which has a number of articles amended and supplemented under Resolution No. 203/2025/QH15;

The National Assembly promulgates the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of Law No. 20/2017/QH14 on Public Debt Management, which has a number of articles amended and supplemented under Law No. 90/2025/QH15.

Article 1. To amend and supplement a number of articles of the Law on Public Debt Management

1. To amend and supplement a number of clauses of Article 3 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement Clause 4 as follows:

“4. Borrowing means the process of creating debt obligations through the issuance of debt instruments or the conclusion and implementation of a loan agreement or contract or a document with another name on capital borrowing.”;

b/ To amend and supplement Clause 21 as follows:

“21. Government guarantee limit means the maximum total value of loans, bond issuances and other debt instruments guaranteed by the Government in one year or a 5-year period, which shall be determined in the annual public debt borrowing and repayment plan or 5-year public debt borrowing and repayment plan as decided by the competent authority.”;

c/ To add Clauses 23 and 24 below Clause 22 as follows:

“23. ODA loan or foreign concessional loan treaty means a written agreement concluded in the name of the State or the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam with a foreign lender being a State, an international organisation, or another entity recognised as a subject of the international law, that gives rise to, changes or terminates the rights and obligations of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam under the international law concerning the receipt, management and use of the ODA loan or foreign concessional loan, regardless of the name of the document.

24. ODA loan or foreign concessional loan agreement means a written agreement signed in the name of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam with a foreign lender being an agency or organisation representing a foreign government, bank, credit institution or financial institution, that gives rise to, changes or terminates the rights and obligations of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam concerning the receipt, management and use of the ODA loan or foreign concessional loan, which is not a treaty, regardless of the name of the document.”.

2. To amend and supplement a number of points and clauses of Article 4 as follows:

a/ To amend Point c, Clause 1 as follows:

“c/ Debts arising from the central budget’s loans borrowed from the cash fund or off-budget financial funds of the State.”;

b/ To amend Point c, Clause 3 as follows:

“c/ Debts arising from local budgets’ loans borrowed from policy banks and the State’s cash fund, and other domestic loans as prescribed by the law on the state budget.”.

3. To add Clause 6 below Clause 5, Article 5 as follows:

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

4. To amend and supplement Article 12 as follows:

“Article 12. Tasks and powers of the President

1. To decide on the negotiation, signing, ratification, amendment, supplementation, extension and invalidation of ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties in the name of the State.

2. To request the Government to report on the situation of public debts and safety indicators thereof; and on the negotiation, signing and ratification of ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties in the name of the State when necessary.”.

5. To amend and supplement a number of clauses of Article 13 as follows:

a/ To amend Clause 4 as follows:

“4. To decide on annual government guarantee limits in case the growth rate of government guarantee outstanding loans exceeds the gross domestic product growth rate of the previous year.”;

b/ To add Clause 7 below Clause 6 as follows:

“7. To decide on the signing, approval, amendment, supplementation, extension and invalidation of ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties in the name of the Government.”.

6. To amend and supplement a number of clauses of Article 14 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement Clause 2 as follows:

“2. To decide on annual plans on borrowing and repayment of public debts, including also the annual limits on loans to be on-lent and government guarantee limits, except the cases concerning government guarantee limits specified in Clause 4, Article 13 of this Law.”;

b/ To add Clause 6a below Clause 6; to amend and supplement Clause 7 and add Clause 7a below 7, as follows:

“6a. To approve proposals on ODA loans and foreign concessional loans.

7. To submit to the President for decision the negotiation, signing, ratification, amendment, supplementation, extension and invalidation of ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties in the name of the State.

7a. To decide on and direct the negotiation of ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties in the name of the Government; to decide on the signing, amendment, supplementation and extension of ODA loan and foreign concessional loan agreements in the name of the Government for any amendment, supplementation or extension that leads to an increase in the Government’s foreign debt repayment obligations.”.

7. To amend and supplement a number of points of Clause 1, Article 15 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement Points d, dd and e as follows:

“d/ To formulate and submit to the Government schemes on issuance of government bonds in the international capital market; to submit to the Government and the Prime Minister annual limits on loans to be on-lent and government guarantee limits;

dd/ To formulate and submit to the Prime Minister for decision annual plans on borrowing and repayment of public debts; issuance of government bonds in the international capital market; use of the Accumulated Fund for Debt Repayment for handling on-lending and government guarantee risks; debt restructuring schemes; amendment, supplementation and extension of ODA loan and foreign concessional loan agreements in the name of the Government for any amendment, supplementation or extension that leads to an increase in the Government’s foreign debt repayment obligations; and grant of government guarantee for programmes and projects on a case-by-case basis;

e/ To formulate and propose to the Government and the Prime Minister the negotiation, signing, ratification, approval, amendment, supplementation, extension and invalidation of ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties and agreements;

b/ To amend and supplement Point i as follows:

“i/ To on-lend ODA loans and foreign concessional loans;”;

c/ To amend and supplement Point p, and add Points q and r below Point p, as follows:

“p/ To examine the implementation of the law on public debt management;

q/ To decide on the amendment, supplementation and extension of ODA loan and foreign concessional loan agreements in the name of the Government, for amendments, supplementations and extensions that do not lead to an increase in the Government’s foreign debt repayment obligations;

r/ To submit to the Prime Minister for approval ODA loan and foreign concessional loan proposals for programmes and projects.”.

8. To amend and supplement a number of clauses of Article 24 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement Clause 4 as follows:

“4. Annual government guarantee limits are specified as follows:

a/ Annual government guarantee limits must be within the National Assembly-decided government guarantee limits for the five-year period;

b/ The growth rate of the government guarantee outstanding loans must not exceed the gross domestic product growth rate of the previous year. In case it exceeds the gross domestic product growth rate of the previous year, the Ministry of Finance shall report thereon to the Government for decision. The Government shall detail this Point.”;

b/ To amend and supplement Clause 6, and add Clause 6a below Clause 6, as follows:

“6. Based on the total annual levels of borrowing and debt repayment of the state budget decided by the National Assembly, the Ministry of Finance shall formulate annual plans on borrowing and repayment of public debts for submission to the Prime Minister for approval.

6a. The Ministry of Finance shall publicise annual public borrowing and debt repayment plans after they are approved by the Prime Minister.”;

c/ To add Clause 8 below Clause 7 as follows:

“8. The Government shall specify in detail this Article.”.

9. To amend and supplement Article 29 as follows:

“Article 29. ODA loans and foreign concessional loans  

1. Ministries, central agencies, provincial-level People’s Committees and state enterprises shall send their ODA loan and foreign concessional loan proposals to the Ministry of Finance.

2. An ODA loan or foreign concessional loan proposal must have the following contents:

a/ The expected foreign lender;

b/ The value of the foreign loan; the tentative loan conditions;

c/ The purpose of capital use; the tentative disbursement period;

d/ The domestic financial mechanism; the tentative repayment source;

e/ A document expressing the foreign lender’s interest (if any).

3. The Prime Minister’s approval of ODA loan or foreign concessional loan proposals serve as a basis for loan-proposing agencies to carry out investment procedures for programmes or projects in accordance with the law on public investment or the law on investment.

4. The conclusion of an ODA loan or foreign concessional loan treaty or agreement for a programme or project must satisfy the following conditions:

a/ Investment procedures have been completed in accordance with law;

b/ The conclusion of the ODA loan or foreign concessional loan treaty or agreement is approved by a competent authority.

5. The allocation and use of ODA loans and foreign concessional loans must be carried out in a strict and efficient manner in adherence to the following principles:

a/ Allocation, for programmes and projects to be covered by the central budget;

b/ On-lending or allocation, for provincial-level People’s Committees or public non-business units;

c/ On-lending, for enterprises.

6. Negotiation, signing, ratification, approval, amendment, supplementation, extension and invalidation of ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties and agreements:

a/ For ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties in the name of the State, the Prime Minister shall submit propose the President to decide on the negotiation, signing, ratification, amendment, supplementation, extension and invalidation;

b/ For ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties in the name of the Government, the Prime Minister shall decide on the negotiation; the Government shall decide on the signing, approval, amendment, supplementation, extension and invalidation;

c/ For ODA loan and foreign concessional loan agreements in the name of the Government, the Prime Minister shall decide on the signing, and the amendment, supplementation and extension of amendments, supplementations and extensions that lead to an increase in the Government’s foreign debt repayment obligations;

d/ In case ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties can be applied immediately without requiring the amendment, supplementation or annulment of existing legal documents or issuance of new ones, it is permitted to make proposals for the signing and ratification or approval simultanously;

dd/ In case a foreign lender does not require the issuance of a letter of authorisation for negotiation of the relevant treaty, the agency in charge of negotiation shall, based on the President’s or the Prime Minister’s approval, conduct the negotiation on the treaty with the foreign lender;

e/ For ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties, agencies proposing the conclusion of the treaties may simultaneously seek verification opinions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, appraisal opinions of the Ministry of Justice, and opinions of other agencies regarding the proposals;

g/ In case of amendment, supplementation or extension of ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties, it is not required to seek verification opinions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and appraisal opinions of the Ministry of Justice when submitting such to competent authorities for decision;

h/ After ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties are signed, it is not required to carry out the procedures for submission for approval of the implementation plans;

i/ The order, procedures and dossiers for negotiation, signing, ratification, approval, amendment, supplementation, extension, implementation and invalidation of ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties must comply with the Government’s regulations.

7. Issues related to ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties that are not provided in this Law must comply with the law on treaties and other relevant laws.

8. Funds for the negotiation, signing, amendment, supplementation, extension, ratification, approval, invalidation, and organisation of the implementation, of ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties and agreements shall be covered by the state budget.

9. The Government shall detail this Article.”.

10. To amend and supplement Clause 1, Article 30 as follows:

“1. Other domestic loans of the Government must comply with decisions of competent authorities or loan agreements, including loans borrowed from the State’s off-budget financial fund or the State’s cash fund and loans borrowed from financial institutions or credit institutions according to loan agreements.”.

11. To amend and supplement Clause 2, and add Clause 3 below Clause 2, Article 31 as follows:

“2. For programmes and projects of on-lending beneficiaries that are provincial-level People’s Committees, the Ministry of Finance shall evaluate the satisfaction of on-lending conditions and sign on-lending contracts.

3. For programmes and projects of on-lending beneficiaries that are enterprises or public non-business units, policy banks or commercial banks selected under Article 35 of this Law shall conduct the appraisal for on-lending. The Ministry of Finance shall consider the on-lending and sign on-lending authorisation contracts with the policy banks or commercial banks.”.

12. To amend and supplement Clause 1, Article 32 as follows:

“1. The Government shall repay government debts fully and in time. The level of new loans borrowed to pay principals of the central budget must be within the total annual borrowing level of the central budget decided by the National Assembly.”.

13. To amend and supplement Clause 6, Article 34 as follows:

“6. On-lending beneficiaries that are enterprises and public non-business units must have financial plans of which the feasibility is appraised by competent authorities under Article 38 of this Law.”.

14. To amend and supplement Article 35 as follows:

“Article 35. On-lending methods

1. The Ministry of Finance shall on-lend loans to provincial-level People’s Committees to implement socio-economic development investment programmes and projects to be covered by local budgets in accordance with the law on the state budget.

2. The Ministry of Finance shall authorise policy banks or commercial banks to on-lend loans in the form that on-lending agencies do not bear credit risks to public non-business units whose recurrent expenditures and investment expenditures are wholly covered by themselves.

3. The Ministry of Finance shall authorise policy banks or commercial banks to on-lend loans in the form that on-lending agencies partially bear credit risks to enterprises for investment in programmes and projects on the list of those prioritised for investment by the State, and public non-business units whose recurrent expenditures and part of investment expenditures are covered by themselves.

4. The Ministry of Finance shall authorise commercial banks to on-lend in the form that the on-lending agencies bear all credit risks to enterprises for investment in production and business projects.

5. The commercial banks specified in Clauses 2, 3 and 4 of this Article must meet the following conditions: having experience of acting as agencies authorised to on-lend loans to programmes and projects funded with ODA loans or foreign concessional loans of the Government, and being rated by an international credit rating institution as equal to, or one level lower than, the national credit rating of Vietnam.

6. The Government’s ODA loan or foreign concessional loan on-lent by a policy bank or commercial bank under Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article to a customer shall not be included in the total outstanding credit balance extended to the customer or the customer and its related parties at the policy bank or commercial bank in accordance with the Law on Credit Institutions.

7. The Government shall detail this Article.”.

15. To amend and supplement a number of points and clauses of Article 36 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement Point a, Clause 2 as follows:

“a/ Self-covering its recurrent expenditures and part of its investment expenditures; being self-accountable for the use of loans and repayment of debts in accordance with law;”;

b/ To amend and supplement Point c, Clause 2 as follows:

“c/ Having a financial plan of which the feasibility is appraised by a competent authority under Article 38 of this Law;”;

c/ To amend and supplement Point dd, Clause 2 as follows:

“dd/ Providing loan security under the Government’s regulations on on-lending of ODA loans and foreign concessional loans.”;

d/ To amend and supplement Point a, Clause 3 as follows:

“a/ Having the legal person status, being lawfully established in Vietnam and having operated for at least 3 years, except enterprises that undergo merger, consolidation, restructuring of the apparatus, or otherwise reorganisation under competent authorities’ directions;”;

dd/ To amend and supplement Point c, Clause 3 as follows:

“c/ Having a financial plan of which the feasibility is appraised by a competent authority under Article 38 of this Law;”;

e/ To amend and supplement Point dd, Clause 3 as follows:

“dd/ Suffering no loss in the last 3 consecutive years as stated in audit statements, except enterprises that are rated by one of the international credit rating institutions that have conducted credit rating for Vietnam as equal to, or one level lower than, the national credit rating;”.

16. To amend and supplement Point b, Clause 2, Article 37 as follows:

“b/ In case the on-lending agency does not bear credit risks, the on-lending risk provisions shall be remitted into the Accumulated Fund for Debt Repayment. In case the on-lending agency bears all credit risks, the on-lending risk provisions shall be remitted to such agency. The Government shall specify the ratio of deductions for on-lending risk provisions in case policy banks or commercial banks authorised to act as on-lending agencies bear part of credit risks under Clause 3, Article 35 of this Law;”.

17. To amend and supplement the title and a number of points and clauses of Article 38 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement the title and Clause 1 of Article 38 as follows:

“Article 38. Evaluation and appraisal for on-lending

1. The Ministry of Finance shall evaluate the satisfaction of the on-lending conditions by provincial-level People’s Committees specified in Clause 1, Article 36 of this Law.”;

b/ To amend and supplement Point d, Clause 2 as follows:

“d/ Based on the appraisal result report and related dossiers, the Ministry of Finance shall consider and organise the on-lending.”.

18. To amend and supplement a number of points and clauses of Article 43 as follows

a/ To amend and supplement Point b, Clause 1 as follows:

“b/ Suffering no loss in the last 3 consecutive years as stated in audit statements, except enterprises that are rated by one of the international credit rating institutions that have conducted credit rating for Vietnam as equal to, or one level lower than, the national credit rating;”;

b/ To amend and supplement Point dd, Clause 1 as follows:

“dd/ The guarantee amount is within the annual government guarantee limit approved by the Government or the Prime Minister;”;

c/ To amend and supplement Point b, Clause 2 as follows:

“b/ The guarantee amount is within the annual government guarantee limit approved by the Government or the Prime Minister;”.

19. To amend and supplement Point a, Clause 1, Article 53 as follows:

“a/ In case of issuing municipal bonds in the domestic capital market, to formulate a bond issuance scheme and report it to the provincial-level People’s Council for approval;”.

20. To amend and supplement Clause 3, Article 59 as follows:

“3. The Ministry of Finance shall develop, uniformly manage and exploit a database on public debts; and apply science, technology and digital transformation in public debt management.”.

21. To amend and supplement Clause 1, and add Clause 1a below Clause 1, Article 60 as follows:

“1. Annually or when requested, the Government shall report to the National Assembly, the National Assembly Standing Committee and the President on information about public debts, including:

a/ The situation of public debts and the compliance with public debt safety indicators, including data on outstanding loans, debt structure, creditors, loan currencies, and the situation of on-lending and grant and management of government guarantee;

b/ The implementation of plans of borrowing and repayment of debts of the Government and local administrations;

c/ The negotiation and conclusion of ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties and agreements;

d/ On-lending projects and government-guaranteed projects which face difficulties in repaying debts and for which funds have been advanced from the Accumulated Fund for Debt Repayment to repay debts;

dd/ The management and use of the Accumulated Fund for Debt Repayment, including data on the Fund’s opening balance, revenues and expenditures arising in the period and closing balance;

e/ The implementation of the National Assembly’s and the National Assembly Standing Committee’s resolutions on public debts;

g/ Other relevant information.

1a. The Ministry of Finance shall make monthly reports on public debts under the Government’s regulations.”.

22. To amend and supplement a number of points and clauses of Article 61 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement Clause 1 as follows:

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

a/ The public debt safety indicators specified in Article 21 of this Law;

b/ Data about public debts specified in Article 4 of this Law, including government debts, government-guaranteed debts (including also amounts advanced from the Accumulated Fund for Debt Repayment) and debts of local administrations;

c/ Annual borrowing and debt repayment plans.”;

b/ To amend and supplement Point c, Clause 4 as follows:

“c/ Publications or other forms in electronic devices.”;

c/ To amend and supplement Clauses 5 and 6 as follows:

“5. The Government shall specify the time, period and contents of information and data about public debts to be publicised under Clause 1 of this Article.

6. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, provincial-level People’s Committees, on-lending agencies, and related agencies and organisations shall coordinate with the Ministry of Finance in comparing and certifying data about public debts and relevant data. The Government shall specify responsibilities of related agencies and units to ensure the timely information disclosure.”.

23. To annul Clauses 1 and Clause 8, Article 14; Clause 2, Article 17; Article 23; and Point a, Clause 3, Article 30.

Article 2. Implementation provisions

1. This Law takes effect on January 1, 2026.

2. To add Clauses 11a and 11b below Clause 11, Article 4 of Law No. 67/2025/QH15 on Corporate Income Tax as follows:

“11a. Investors’ income from interests on Vietnamese government bonds.

11b. Income of foreign lenders from interests and charges arising from loans to the Vietnamese State and Government.”.

Article 3. Transitional provisions

1. For a programme or project of which the programme or project proposal or investment policy has been approved before the effective date of this Law, it is not required to carry out the loan proposal procedures; in case there is a change in the content regarding an increase in the value of the loan after the effective date of this Law, it is required to carry out the loan proposal procedures under Clause 9, Article 1 of this Law.

2. For programmes and projects applying specific mechanisms on public debts according to the National Assembly’s resolutions, ministries, central agencies, provincial-level People’s Committees and state enterprises may opt to continue applying the promulgated resolutions or comply with this Law.

3. ODA loan and foreign concessional loan treaties and agreements for which the proposing agencies have submitted dossiers on the negotiation, signing, ratification, approval, amendment, supplementation or extension to the competent authorities before the effective date of this Law, must continue to comply with Law No. 20/2017/QH14 on Public Debt Management, which has a number of articles amended and supplemented under Law No. 90/2025/QH15.

4. Programmes and projects of which the financial mechanisms and on-lending conditions are approved before the effective date of this Law must continue to be implemented according to the approved mechanisms.

This Law was passed on December 10, 2025, by the 15^th National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at its 10^th session.

Chairman of the National Assembly
TRAN THANH MAN