North-South Expressway is one of key projects for Việt Nam. Photo chinhphu.vn

HÀ NỘI – The progress of public investment capital allocation and disbursement in many sectors and localities across the country is currently slower than the planned schedule, said the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

The total allocated capital is nearly VNĐ799trillion (US$33.8 billion), which is 96.65 per cent of the planned capital assigned by the Prime Minister. 

However, 24 of the 47 ministries and central agencies, along with 49 of the 63 localities, have not yet fully allocated the assigned capital. 

The ministry has proposed comprehensive solutions to speed up the progress of public investment capital allocation and disbursement.

MoF said that the 96.65 per cent rate includes Central Budget of VNĐ313.5 trillion ($13.3 billion), of which domestic capital is 291.3 trillion ($12.3 billion), and foreign capital is VNĐ22.2 trillion ($946 million and local budget of VNĐ484.6 trillion ($20.6 billion).

During the allocation process, ministries, central agencies, and local areas prioritise allocating capital to important projects, such as expressways, inter-regional projects, coastal roads, and other key projects. The total capital allocated to these projects reached VNĐ116.9 trillion ($4.97 billion). 

According to the ministry's statistics, the total capital that has not yet been allocated by 24 ministries, central agencies, and 49 localities is VNĐ77.6 trillion ($3.3 billion), accounting for 9.42 per cent of the total assigned capital.

The unallocated central budget capital amounts to approximately VNĐ36.6 trillion ($1.6 billion), primarily because many newly started projects have yet to complete investment procedures or are awaiting the adjustment and supplementation of the 2021–2025 medium-term public investment plan. 

Additionally, some ministries and agencies proposed returning the capital due to no demand for use or because projects have not been licensed, leading to prolonged capital allocation times.

These difficulties contribute to the slow progress in detailed capital allocation for key projects.

Some bodies have not completed the decentralisation process under specific mechanisms for the national target programme capital, leading to unmet capital allocation requirements. 

Capital has not been fully allocated at the local budget level due to incomplete revenue transfers from land use and lotteries and a local budget deficit. 

Although the 2025 capital allocation plan was meticulously developed, gaps still exist in the process of detailed capital allocation among units.

MoF assessed that the unallocated capital would affect the disbursement rate of public investment capital from the State Budget in the early months this year.

Most unallocated capital is expected to be allocated to projects completing investment procedures.

Regarding disbursement, the cumulative disbursement from the beginning of the year to late February was 60.4 trillion ($2.57 billion), achieving 6.83 per cent of the total plan.

Central budget capital disbursement reached 5.6 per cent of the plan, lower than the 7.52 per cent of the previous year, while local budget capital disbursement reached 8.58 per cent of the plan, similar to the 8.36 per cent of the same period last year.

Some units achieved good disbursement rates, such as the Voice of Vietnam (73.82 per cent), Việt Nam Bank for Social Policies (41.16 per cent), Ministry of Public Security (12.67 per cent), Huế City (22.97 per cent), Tiền Giang Province (27.62 per cent), Vĩnh Phúc Province (21.49 per cent), Tuyên Quang Province (21.26 per cent) while most ministries, central agencies, and localities have not disbursed (27 units) or have low disbursement rates (26 units).

To accelerate the 2025 public investment capital disbursement rate, which will exceed 95 percent of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister, the MoF has proposed that all relevant bodies urgently complete the detailed allocation of capital for projects before this month.  

The ministry said that Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính issued Official Telegram No. 16/CĐ-TTg on February 18, urging the acceleration of public investment capital allocation and disbursement for 2025.

The telegram requests ministries, central agencies, and localities to "urgently complete the detailed allocation of the 2025 State budget public investment capital within the first quarter of 2025 in accordance with regulations".

Therefore, the ministry urged other ministries and others to swiftly finalise the detailed allocation of capital plans for tasks and projects before March 31. 

Additionally, they are encouraged to actively implement tasks to accelerate the disbursement of the 2025 State Budget public investment capital as directed by the Prime Minister in the telegram.

After March 31, the ministry will report to the relevant authorities to cut and reallocate funds to ministries, central agencies and localities that require additional capital for 2025.

These funds will be allocated to important and urgent projects and strategic infrastructure projects with high disbursement potential, including projects under the Prime Minister’s direction in Notice No. 23/TB-VPCP dated January 20, concerning the issuance of Government bonds for investment in national key projects.

On March 1, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính issued Directive No. 05/CT-TTg, directing strong measures to boost economic growth and public investment capital disbursement. VNS