HANOI, Oct. 17 -- Vietnam has raised the limit on how much it may owe abroad, a week after Japan's Rating and Investment Information became the first agency, by the government's account, to rate the country investment grade. A revised public debt strategy signed on Thursday lets external debt climb to 50 percent of gross domestic product by 2030, up from 45 percent.

Xinhua, citing the Vietnamese daily Tien Phong, reported on Friday that the overall public debt cap stays at 60 percent of GDP and the government debt cap at 50 percent. Only the external ceiling moved. The International Monetary Fund's staff had suggested last year that Hanoi pull its overall ceiling down to 50 percent. Hanoi kept 60 and widened the external limit instead. ...