Public investment disbursement low in four months

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Of the four-month figure, VND67.361 trillion (US$2.89 billion) in domestic capital were disbursed, reaching 18.24 per cent of the target set by the National Assembly and 19.9 per cent of the figure assigned by the Prime Minister, according to a report recently sent by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to the Prime Minister.

Statistics show that public investment disbursements by ministries, agencies, and localities in the four-month period were at higher levels than those seen in the corresponding period last year.

However, these disbursements fell short of the Government’s expectation. Particularly, the disbursement of foreign capital stood at only VND1.186 trillion (US$50.99 million), equal to 2.5 per cent of the National Assembly's target and 4.14 per cent of the total figure set by the Government.

The Ministry of Finance cited a variety of reasons for the delayed disbursement of public investment.

Regarding domestic capital, although a master plan on allocating public investment capital was approved by the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Planning and Investment in January, ministries, central agencies, and localities have been slow to react. It was not until the end of February when the detailed allocation of public capital for projects was completed, causing sluggish disbursement.

As for capital from foreign sources, slow disbursement was largely caused by delays in defining capital allocation plans until January 31. As a result, ministries, central agencies, and localities only started to make disbursements from March.

During the four-month period, the foreign capital disbursement for many projects continued in line with the plan approved for 2018. Some are currently in the process of completing procedures to receive capital according to the 2019 plan.

Given this, the MoF submitted several measures to the Prime Minister on increasing the disbursement of public investment. Regarding the remaining investment capital which is deducted from the State budget and has yet to be assigned by the Prime Minister, the MoF recommended the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) comply with the Prime Minister's directions at Directive No. 09/CT-TTg.

The MoF also suggested the Prime Minister assign the MPI to quickly submit competent authorities to a medium-term public investment plan for the 2016-20 period. Besides, the MPI was proposed to send a 2019 public investment plan for State-owned enterprises whose state capital ownership was transferred to the Committee for Management of State Capital at Enterprises (CMSC), in accordance with the Government’s Resolution No.09/NQ-CP dated February 3, 2019.

For the remaining 2019 state capital which has yet to be disbursed for any specific projects under national target programs by March 31, the MoF called for reviewing and clawing back the capital.