Accelerating disbursement of public investment

A transport project in Hai Phong city - Photo: VNA

The decline of the State sector’s contribution to investment, while the efficiency of investment has also not improved, are considered one of the reasons that have led to the GDP only increasing by 5.73% annually.

In particular, the investment from the State budget over the first half of the year was estimated at just VND115 trillion, equal to 38.7% of the year' target and only up 7.6% over the same period last year, of which the capital managed by the Central administration reached 37.1% of the year’s plan and increased by 7.5%, while the capital managed by local administration reached just 39.3% of the year's plan, an increase of 7.6%.

In the first half of 2016, the GDP grew by 5.52%, while social investment increased by 11.7% compared to the same period of 2015, equivalent to 32.9% of the GDP. The State sector’s capital accounted for just 37.1% of the total capital, up 6.5% over the corresponding period of 2015. Therefore, the disbursement of public investment in the first half of 2017 was slightly higher than in the same period last year; however, the investment from the State budget was disbursed at a slower rate than before.

In order to reach the target economic growth rate of 6.7% for this year, the economic growth in the remaining months of 2017 must reach a rate of 7.4%. More drastic measures should be taken to accelerate the disbursement of public investment, in general, and investment capital from the State budget in particular, together with ensuring the efficiency of public investment.

It is necessary to reject ineffective public investment projects with slow progress, in order to concentrate capital on more effective investment projects, as well as continuing to reform investment management procedures and the disbursement of public investment capital in the direction of creating the most favourable conditions for effective investment projects.

Ministries, sectors and localities should exert more efforts to disburse public investment capital in a transparent and strict manner, as well as fighting against wastefulness and loss. Debt for basic construction in a number of public investment projects must also be handled quickly.

Relevant ministries should examine and revise documents guiding the implementation of projects, and inspect the quality of public investment projects, with the aim of promoting the role of projects for the nation’s socio-economic growth.