Congressmen propose public debt clock in three large cities National Assembly’s deputies think that it is necessary to set up public debt clocks in the central areas of large cities.   Bui Quang Tin, a renowned economist, applauding the Ministry of Finance’s idea to publicize information about central and local budgets, said the new regulation on information exposure in the legal document drafted by the ministry was in line with global integration. He said that information exposure must be carried out in a more substantial way, while transparency must be associated with statistics standardization –  Vietnamese statistical standards at first and then international standards. However, an analyst warned that this would not be  simple to do because there are many problems in Vietnam’s statistical methods. The most worrying problem is that statistics agencies may be influenced by state management agencies or policymakers which may distort statistical figures. National Assembly’s deputies think that it is necessary to set up public debt clocks in the central areas of large cities. Tin, who is a finance expert, said it was difficult to find official information from Vietnamese management agencies and statistics are not updated regularly. “I have to use statistics from foreign sources for my research,” he said. Tin, together with other experts, have asked to create debt publication as the responsibility of management agencies. They said it is necessary to set up public debt clocks in three large cities – Hanoi, HCMC and Da Nang, while emphasizing that this is just one thing that needs to be done in the process towards budget transparency. Hoang Van Cuong, a National Assembly Deputy from Hanoi, also affirmed that publicising budget revenue and expenditures, including the public debt, is a must. And it is also necessary to give stronger warnings about the current situation of the public debt. Cuong emphasized that the warnings must be given to policymaking agencies, state management agencies and agencies which hold the ‘key’ to the state budget coffers, so that they think carefully before making decisions which may put pressure on the public debt. Do Duc Hong Ha, a National Assembly’s Deputy from Hanoi, said he will put forward the setting up of a public debt clock at discussions in the National Assembly’s upcoming working sessions. “Not only MOF, but National Assembly and voters want to know the real situation of the state budget,” he said. Ha believes that it would be better to place the clock at the National Assembly’s House. Meanwhile, Le Dang Doanh, a renowned economist, thinks it would be better if the clock is set up at the Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, where people and the government  can see it. Thanh Mai, VNN