Speaking at a conference with ministries, branches and localities on foreign-funded public investment disbursement in the last months of 2025 held on October 15, Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Quoc Phuong said disbursement plays an important role in fulfilling socio-economic tasks this year.

Public investment disbursement, especially ODA (official development assistance) capital, is the government's and Prime Minister's top concern. A series of resolutions, telegrams, directions, urgings have been issued. However, results remain modest.

"To achieve 100 percent disbursement target for 2025 public investment capital, we must review and push progress, especially for foreign-funded public investment," the Ministry of Finance leader said.

He requested units to categorize solutions into two groups. Short‑term, urgent solutions must be carried out immediately in the remaining more than two months of 2025, to accelerate disbursement in Q4. Long‑term, structural solutions should apply beyond 2025 to address long‑standing issues and ensure more sustainable disbursement progress.

At the conference, Vu Hoang Nam, Deputy Director of the Department of Debt and External Economic Management (Ministry of Finance), reported that the disbursement rate of foreign capital by mid‑October 2025 had only reached 18.68 percent, much lower than the 30.6 percent of the same period last year, and far from the government’s 100 percent target.

He named 5 ministries, branches, and localities that have not disbursed funds, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the provinces of Lai Chau, Hung Yen, Dong Nai, and Tay Ninh. 

The main reasons included slow land clearance, procurement procedure issues, project adjustments, loan agreement delays, slow approvals by donors, administrative boundary mergers, and impact from natural disasters.

As of October 14, the total foreign capital disbursement plan for 2025 assigned by the Prime Minister had reached VND23,416 billion, including VND11,060 billion for ministries and branches, and VND12,356 billion for localities. In addition, more than VND2,178 billion from 2024 has been carried forward into 2025.

To date, 85.63 percent of the foreign capital plan has been detailed on Tabmis system. The figure is 92.14 percent for, while ministries and branches have achieved 78.35 percent. Some units, such as the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Training, Vietnam National University Hanoi, HCMC and Hanoi, have already allocated 100 percent of their capital plans.

What do localities propose?

In Dong Nai, local representatives said that the disbursement of domestic projects has been following the plan. However, for ODA, disbursement remains slow because loan agreement procedures with foreign partners have not been completed, preventing subsequent steps.

He said all dossiers and implementation plans are fully prepared, and are ready right after completing legal procedures. Dong Nai has committed to complete a full disbursement plan before year-end, proposing that central agencies resolve difficulties related to international loan approval progress.

For Hung Yen, the main difficulties come from appraisal and international consultant selection for some ODA projects on ecological infrastructure and environmental resource conservation. Due to high technical requirements, the dossier review and approval process must be done carefully, leading to delayed progress vs the plan.

Provincial officials said project management units are urgently completing the remaining procedures and asked the Ministry of Finance and agencies to adjust capital allocation structures in line with actual progress to facilitate disbursement.

To speed up disbursement in the final months, the Ministry of Finance proposes that ministries, sectors, and localities expedite investment procedures, finalize legal project dossiers, coordinate with donors to resolve obstacles, closely monitor progress, promptly report emerging issues, and focus on disbursing all projects that are eligible to ensure the target is met.

Task forces in HCMC

In an effort to resolve the bottlenecks slowing down the disbursement of public investment capital, the HCMC People’s Committee has issued a decision to establish three special task forces.

This move comes as the city’s disbursement pace has slowed over the past two months, despite having disbursed more than VND54,000 billion as of mid‑September 2025, equivalent to 45.2 percent of the assigned plan, one of the highest rates compared to the same period in the past five years.

Task force No1 is headed by HCMC Vice Chair Bui Xuan Cuong and is responsible for monitoring disbursement across 78 wards and 24 communes. Task force No2 is led by HCMC Permanent Vice Chair Nguyen Van Tho, covering 11 wards, 18 communes, and Con Dao special zone. Task force No3 is chaired by HCMC Vice Chair Bui Minh Thanh, overseeing 24 wards and 12 communes.

Nguyen Le