HANOI, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's public debt to GDP ratio is estimated at some 61.4 percent this year, down 2.3 percent against last year, according to the country's Ministry of Planning and Investment on Monday.

Vietnam's gross domestic product (GDP) currently stands at around 5,100 trillion Vietnamese dong (221.7 billion U.S. dollars), so its public debt this year will be some 3,130 trillion Vietnamese dong (136 billion U.S. dollars).

The state budget collection in 2018 is estimated to surpass 1,350 trillion Vietnamese dong (nearly 58.7 billion U.S. dollars), up 5.5 percent against 2017, said the ministry. Meanwhile, the budget deficit will be around 3.67 percent of GDP.

The total investment in Vietnam this year is likely to surge 13.3 percent to 1,890 trillion Vietnamese dong (nearly 82.2 billion U.S. dollars). Meanwhile, disbursed capital of foreign direct investment projects is forecast to increase 2.8 percent to 18 billion U.S. dollars.

Vietnam's GDP is likely to expand 6.83 percent in 2018, according to the ministry's National Center for Socioeconomic Information and Forecast. Its GDP growth was estimated by the center to stand at 6.72 percent in the third quarter of this year, and 6.56 percent in the fourth quarter.

Vietnam gained GDP growth of 7.08 percent in the first half of this year, the highest first-half growth rate since 2011, said the country's General Statistics Office.

Vietnam's top legislature has targeted GDP growth of 6.5-6.7 percent in 2018, compared with 6.81 percent in 2017.