Localities still slow in disbursing foreign-funded public investment: official
The disbursement of public investment funded by foreign sources in localities is relatively low at present, requiring solutions to difficulties facing each project, an official of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said on May 21.
The elevated section of the Nhon - Hanoi Station urban railway line is funded through foreign official development assistance (ODA). (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – The disbursement of public investment funded by foreign sources in localities is relatively low at present, requiring solutions to difficulties facing each project, an official of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said on May 21.
A total of more than 24.17 trillion VND (over 949 million USD) is allocated to localities nationwide in 2024.
However, only 5.7% of the foreign funding was disbursed by localities as of May 15, still higher than the 4.9% recorded during the same period last year, Hoang Hai, Deputy Director of the MoF’s Department of Debt Management and External Finance, told a meeting on the disbursement of public investment funded by foreign sources.
Only five provincial-level localities have posted a disbursement rate of over 15% while 28 have yet to disburse any capital, he added.
Hai noted that to accelerate public investment disbursement, the Minister of Finance has ordered the entire sector to carry out comprehensive measures, including urging ministries, central agencies and localities to take action, sending delegations to some ministries and localities to deal with obstacles, and shortening the time for handling procedures.
The MoF is also working with foreign capital providers to speed up negotiations and signing of loan agreements for the projects having investment procedures completed.
In the time ahead, the official said, it will boost assistance for localities to remove bottlenecks and continue discussing with foreign sponsors to deal with problems.
The MoF also asked localities to assess the disbursement feasibility of each project to ensure sufficient capital and avoid disbursement deadline extension or additional administrative procedures./.
Public investment is currently still an important growth driver, which needs to be accelerated so as to help the economy achieve a 6.5% growth this year, according to insiders.
The disbursement of public investment in the first four months of this year was estimated to meet 14.66% of the set target and 15.65% of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister, according to the Ministry of Finance.
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