The finance ministry report showed that the disbursement rate was disappointing, at 39.06% in the first 11 months of this year, equivalent to 3.287 trillion dong. — VNA/VNS
HANOI: Drastic measures are needed to remove blocks and accelerate the disbursement of foreign-funded public investment in the remaining months of this year, as the rate remains far below the target of 95%, according to the Finance Ministry.
The ministry’s report, revealed at a conference to discuss solutions to speed up the foreign-funded public investment on Tuesday, showed that the disbursement rate was disappointing, at 39.06% in the first 11 months of this year, equivalent to 3.287 trillion dong, lower than the rate of 53.16% recorded in the same period last year.
Only two out of ten ministries and agencies reported the disbursement rate of more than 50% which were the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (87.76%) and the Transport Ministry (58.35%).
Four ministries have yet to disburse any foreign-funded public investment to date, including the Education and Training Ministry, the Construction Ministry, the Labour Ministry, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Health Ministry.
“The disappointing disbursement poses significant challenges to the disbursement rate goal of at least 95% year set by the government,” the ministry’s Department of Debt Management and External Finance deputy director Hoang Hai said, adding that drastic efforts are needed to remove bottlenecks in terms of administrative procedures and mechanisms to accelerate the disbursement.
Participants at the conference pointed out major causes which resulted in stagnation in the disbursement of public investment.
A representative from the Education and Training Ministry, which has two projects using foreign-funded public investment worth a total of 629 billion dong said that many projects were facing difficulties in site clearance and complicated procedures in bidding and design evaluation.
Some projects must adjust the investment policies several times, requiring adjustments in lending agreements and delays in approval and implementation.
The ministry’s Department of State Budget deputy director Nguyen Minh Tan said that failure in disbursing public investment was a waste, given the context that the capital demand for investment and development is huge.
Tan asked ministries and agencies which were slow in disbursing public investment to raise solutions to achieve the highest disbursement results while developing efficient capital plans for 2025. He stressed that the Planning and Investment Ministry needed to enhance discipline for capital allocation. — Viet Nam News/ANN
