Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on July 16 chaired an online meeting with leaders of all cities and provinces, aimed at accelerating the disbursement of public investment, which is currently occurring at a snail’s pace.

Public investment disbursement must be accelerated, says PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc
at an online meeting with leaders of all cities and provinces 

The meeting heard that the opening months of the year witnessed the Vietnamese economy grow at a low rate in comparison to the corresponding period seen in previous years due to the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Experts believe that once capital flows, including those originating from social and State sources, slow down, public investment disbursement represents one of the best solutions in order to overcome difficulties. The General Statistics Office calculated that for every 1% of total investment disbursed, the country’s GDP could enjoy a boost of 0.06%.

However, the fact is that public investment capital over recent years has been disbursed very slowly, coming in far below expectations. The Ministry of Planning and Investment reported the initial six months of the year saw the disbursement of capital only reach 33.9% of the plan, much lower than the minimum requirement.

Expressing his unsatisfaction with the slow pace, PM Phuc requested that ministries and localities seek feasible measures to realise the disbursement goal set for the year.

It is therefore up to various leaders of cities and provinces to be responsible for this matter, the PM stated, warning that the Government will consider shifting investment from one locality to another, or alternatively from one sector to another if necessary.

He also asked cities and provinces to meet each month as opposed to once every six months as at present to review and hammer out measures aimed at speeding up public investment disbursement.

The meeting must devise solutions for dealing with three backlogs, namely no idle capital, no debts for complete projects, and no stagnant procedures, the PM stressed.  

The Government leader also singled out a number of localities for excelling in investment capital disbursement, such as Nghe An, Thai Binh, Hung Yen, Ninh Binh, and Phu Tho, while criticising many other localities for their slow pace in the process.