Viet Nam: Consultancy service - Technical support for transparency and accountability of public debt management

Title

Technical supports for transparency and accountability of public debt management

Scope

Hanoi, Vietnam

Timeframe

From 10^st Mar - 30^th May 2018

Report to

Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, Programme Officer - Governance

Email:Thuy.TranThiThanh@oxfam.org

Oxfam is a world-wide development organisation that mobilizes the strength and voice of people against poverty, inequality and injustice. We are an international confederation of 20 Oxfam organisations working together in more than 90 countries. In Vietnam, Oxfam’s first activities took place in 1955, when we provided humanitarian assistance. Since the late 1980s we have implemented a number of development projects across Vietnam aimed at reducing poverty. After Vietnam reached the lower-middle income benchmark in 2010, the needs of the poorest and most marginalized groups in society remain high; Oxfam’s country strategy has shifted accordingly to addressing inequality. We seek transformative changes in policies, practices and beliefs in ways that will fundamentally improve the lives of poor and marginalized women and men and ensure that all citizens have the same opportunity to enjoy their rights. We believe that an effective public finance management system will contribute to improving quality of life for marginalized groups and addressing inequality in the country. On the other hand, CSOs and public participation is crutial condition for transparent, accountable and effective public finance system. In order to promote transparency, accountability and CSOs participation in public finance sector, we are seeking qualified consultants to provide technical Support on Transparency and Accountability of Public Debt Management.

1. Background At the end of 2016, Vietnam’s public debt has reached 94.8 billion USD, equivalent to 62,6% of GDP (MOF, 2016) and very near with debt ceiling of 65% GDP. However, many independent research organizations have stressed that real public debt might be much higher than the data reported by MOF. According to current Vietnam Public Debt Law, public debts only inlude national government debt, local government debt, and state-owned enterprise (SOE) debt guaranteed by the Government. However, according to the international definition, public debts also cover other debts of central banks and state units including SOEs. If all SOE debts were included in the calculation, Vietnam’s public debt would reach 431 billion USD, equivalent to 210% GDP . In Vietnam, loans and bonds are only allowed to finance public development investment, not for recurrent expenditures. For three decades, a huge amount of money (10% GDP in the period 2001 – 2011) has been spent for infrastructure and economic development. Despite making some contributions to socio-economic development, public investment has often been used inefficiently. On the other hand, the Government has provided a lot of debt guarantees for SOEs. The government-guaranteed loans as of end-2015 stood at VND 459 trillion ($20.3 billion) . However, economic projects guaranteed by the Government are characterized as inefficient, which partially reflected in the 12 state economic projects with total loss of 3 billion USD disclosed recently
   In order to repay debt on time, the Vietnamese Government has to borrow money from extra-budget funds and issue debt instruments such as government bonds. Currently, the Government is borrowing 369,000 billion VND (18 billion USD) from the Social Insurance Fund. The Government also has plan to increase some taxes such as VAT for more revenues which could negatively affect poor and lower income people . On the other hand, investment for social services might be reduced to save money for debt repayment. This situation might lead to increasing inequality in Vietnam.
   From 2016 - 2017, the Government has revised the Public Debt Law and Public Investment Law. Oxfam and BTAP have actively contributed to the revision process. As transparency and accountability are crucial requirements for effective public debt management, Oxfam and partner have directly provided technical support to the drafting committee for improving transparency and accoutability requirements in the Amended Law. Oxfam policy recommendation paper was also shared widely with National Assembly members for their debate sessions on Public Debt Management Law. The revised Law has been passed by National Assemly XIV on November 2017 with some improvements in term of transparency and accountability. The Government is now developing 07 Decrees for detailing Amended Public Debt Law 2017. This process offers an opportunity for CSOs to contribute to strengthening transparency, accoutability and participation in public debt management. On this basis, Oxfam seeks to recruit experienced international consultants to provide technical supports to Oxfam and the drafting committee for strengthening transparency and accountability requirements in the decrees guiding Amended Public Management Law 2017. In addition, to build capacity for elected deputies and CSOs, Oxfam is seeking an international expert to conduct a training on public debt and budget oversight in Vietnam.
2. Overall responsibilities: • Review international good practice, Amended Public Deb Law 2017, and other Vietnam current related policies to identify opportunities for strengthening transaprency and accountability of public debt management. • Develop recommendations for public debt strategy and borrowing plan. • Develop templates internal public debt reporting (for internal use) and public debt transparency (for public) • Conduct training on public debt and state budget oversight for elected deputies and CSOs in Vietnam

3. Requirements: • At least master degree on Public Finance with solid legal knowledge • At least 20 years experience working with public finance and public debt management policies • Good working expriences with public debt management in developing countries is preferable. • Good working experience with both Governments and CSOs is preferable.

4. Workplan

No Expected outputs Estimated number of days 1 Develop debt strategy and borrowing plan basing on Vietnam current legal framework and international good practices. Policy recommendations for debt strategy and borrowing plan (10 pages maximum) 4 days (10 – 20 Mar) 2 Develop templates for public debt reporting and transparency • Templates for internal public debt reporting (for internal use) • Templates for 6 -month and annual Public Debt Review (for public) 2 days (20 – 30 Mar) 3 Finalize policy recommendations and templates Policy recommendations and templates 1 day ( 30 Mar – 5 April) 4 Conduct training on public debt and budget oversight for elected deputies and CSOs in Vietnam (Training agenda will be discussed and agreed between Oxfam and consultants) • Training agenda and materials • 2.5 day - training for at least 30 elected deputies and CSOs in Vietnam 5 days (15 April – 15 May) (Travel cost incurred during training will be covered by Oxfam)

Applicants interested please send your CVs and a consultancy proposal no later than 5 Mar 2018 to the address below:

Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, Programme Officer – Oxfam in Vietnam - 22 Le Dai Hanh, Hanoi, Vietnam

Email: Thuy.TranThiThanh@oxfam.org

We regret that only short-listed applicants will be contacted.