Disbursement of ODA capital reaches 39% at local level

	Disbursement of public investment capital: positively move but difficulties remain
	Raise responsibility of head in capital disbursement
	Improving efficiency of loan use associated with debt repayment liability

Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien project is a reason for lowering the disbursement of ODA capital in HCMC.

Disbursement at local level lower than at central level

With this low disbursement rate, Director of the Department of Debt Management and External Finance, Mr. Truong Hung Long, said that the disbursement from now to the end of the year was a difficult task, especially for localities that have applied to adjust plans and commit to disbursing100% of foreign loans.

Mr. Truong Hung Long said that this conference was the last about accelerating ODA disbursement in 2020, he suggested localities to consider how muchdisbursement rate can be, what support is needed from authorities and donors,and what suggestions on extending the project or adjusting the project and what problems have been encountered in the disbursement.

To clarify the results of the disbursement of public investment capital from foreign loans of localities, Ms. Nguyen Xuan Thao, Deputy Director of the Department of Debt Management and External Finance, said with the targeted additional source of the central budget for the local budget, as of November 30, the disbursement rate reached 41% of the adjusted estimate. 4 of 62 localities reporting disbursement rates over 70% are Hanoi, BinhDinh, Tay Ninh and Ba Ria - Vung Tau.

With the Government’s on-lending to localities, as of November 30, the disbursement rate reached 38% of the assigned estimate.

"The disbursement rate is averaged at 39.5% of the assigned estimate, four of 62 localities reach 100% of the estimate,"said Ms. Thao.

The disbursement rate of public investment capital from foreign loans in the first eleven months of 2020 has increased significantly compared to the first six months of the year thanks to the drastic direction of the Government, the Prime Minister and efforts of ministries and central agencies and localities.

The Government set up seven working groups to inspect the disbursement at the ministries, central agencies and localities; the Prime Minister chaired three online conferences to urge disbursement; the Ministry of Finance establishedseven working groups to urge disbursement in localities, organized five online conferences on disbursement with localities and one online conference on disbursement for the list of programs and projects funded by World Bank (WB)loans.

“The rate of disbursement over estimated public investment capital allocated by the central budget to localities in the first eleven months is 41%, lower than the set target, most localities commit to the Government and the Prime Minister to achieve the disbursement rates of 90% or more. Meanwhile, the remaining time for disbursement of estimated public investment capital in 2000 is less than two months,”noted Ms. Nguyen Xuan Thao.

Regarding the difficulties of projects, project owners and localities, the Ministry of Finance said that there are difficulties in site clearance, bidding, contract negotiation and unspecific assignment of responsibility of investors. At the same time, the delay in signing the on-lending contract is also a reason that should be taken into account.

Promptly prepare acceptance documents

At the conference, the representative of Ho Chi Minh City said that the disbursement of allocated capital was estimated at 37.6% of the assigned plan. The disbursement of re-lending capital was 52%. The representative of Hai Phong city said that it had disbursed 60% of the ODA capital and committed to disburse 100% by January 30, 2021.

Sharing the reasons for low disbursement, in addition to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ben Thanh -Suoi Tien project is also a reason, said the representative of Ho Chi Minh City.

The ODA capital plan allocated by the Central budget for this project is VND 2,185 billion, accounting for 43.3% of the total allocated ODA capital. The slow disbursement of this capital affects the disbursement of ODA capital of the whole city. The city has repeatedly proposed to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment to remove problems regarding this project.

The representative of Ho Chi Minh City also proposed that this project has signed three loan agreements with JICA with VND155.3 billion and isgoing to sign the fourthloan agreement with the final loan of VND41 billion. Therefore, Ho Chi Minh City proposed the Ministry of Finance to support the city to work with JICA to complete the procedures and sign this loan before June 30, 2021 to ensure disbursement.

The disbursement time for the public investment plan in 2020 is less than two months, so the Ministry of Finance proposed to the provincial People's Committees to direct the project owners to urgently prepare acceptance documents for the works that have volume and send them to the State Treasury for confirmation of the completed volume value. After withdrawing capital, records of revenue and expenditure must be sent to the State Treasury to finish the accounting within 30 days from January 31, 2021.

Along with that, continue to work closely with the donors to speed up the issuing of "disapproval" opinions at the project implementation stages, especially for the completed workload that needs to be approved by the donor for disbursement.

HCM City: Focusing on disbursement of public investment capital in the last months of 2020

According to Mr. Truong Hung Long, the disbursement time for 2020 is not long, so localities should direct and urge projects and work with donors to solve problems anddrive agencies to quickly disburse foreign loans in 2020.