National Road No 57 being upgraded. The Government asked for the disbursement of public investment to be sped up in the second half of this year to drive economic growth in the pandemic. — VNA/VNS Photo Công Trí

HÀ NỘI — The disbursement of public investment must be sped up in the second half of this year as an important solution to accelerate economic growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

This was stressed in the Government’s Resolution No 63/NQ-CP issued in late June about major tasks to accelerate economic growth, speed up public investment and promote sustainable exports in the closing months of 2021 and early months of 2022.

The ministry said that the disbursement rate of public investment was expected to be at least 60 per cent of the plan by the end of the third quarter and 95-100 per cent for the full year.

The latest updates of the General Statistics Office (GSO) showed that more than VNĐ295 trillion worth of investment from the State sector was realised in the first half of this year, accounting for 25.3 per cent of the plan and up by 7.3 per cent against the same period last year.

The total realised investment in the economy, including the public investment, non-State sector and foreign direct investment (FDI) was estimated at VNĐ1.169 quadrillion, up by 7.2 per cent against the same period last year.

GSO’s Director Nguyễn Thị Hương said that the increases in realised investment demonstrated the effectiveness of solutions to speed up disbursement of public investment, the Government’s policies to support enterprises as well as measures to receive the FDI inflow in the context that the COVID-19 pandemic was triggering a global production shift.

Meanwhile, statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investment showed that disbursed public investment totalled more than VNĐ133.89 trillion in the first half of this year, making up for 29.02 per cent of the plan, compared to the rate of 34 per cent recorded in the same period of 2020.

Three ministries and central-level agencies had disbursement rates of below one per cent while nine had not managed to disburse any.

To achieve the goal in disbursing public investment in 2021, the Government asked relevant ministries and localities to enhance discipline and accountability of the leaders in the disbursement of public investment. Besides, the public investment allocation plan for different projects must be reviewed to ensure the implementation progress and ensure that the investments go to key and feasible projects.

The focus must be placed on speeding up site clearance, removing difficulties, especially those related to land and natural resources, for public-invested projects.

Each ministry, agency and locality must establish a working group in charge of pushing the disbursement progress, supervising and tackling bottlenecks in the disbursement.

Public investment was identified among key drivers for economic growth in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Resolution No 63/NQ-CP, the Government also raised other solutions to promote economic recovery in the remaining months of this year, including the formation of vaccine production industry, maintaining macro-economic stability, increasing national digital transformation and raising measures to support virus-hit citizens and enterprises.

GSO’s statistics also showed that the Vietnamese economy expanded by 5.64 per cent in the first half of this year, much higher than the growth rate of 1.82 per cent recorded in the same period of last year.

The National Assembly set the target for GDP growth at around six per cent this year but the Government set a higher goal at 6.5 per cent. — VNS