Vietnam and Japan on May 21 signed three agreements worth 61 billion yen (US$442 million) to finance official development assistance (ODA) projects in Vietnam.

After 30 years Japan has become Vietnam’s biggest ODA donor, with more than JPY2.7 trillion, approximately US$20 billion, in loans, nearly JPY100 billion in grant aid, and roughly JPY180 billion in support for technical cooperation.

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc pointed out problems in the Law on Public Investment at the ongoing National Assembly session.

Some ministries, agencies and localities have given back public investment capital as they had not used up the capital.

Unable to disburse ODA as planned, many ministries and local authorities have begun to return the loans to the Government, adding burden to fiscal planning.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency Vietnam has disbursed some 10.8 billion JPY ($75 million) worth of ODA in Vietnam between April 2021 and March 2022, according to Chief Representative Shimizu Akira.

Disbursement of foreign official development assistance (ODA) and concessional loans has been slow, achieving only 15.48% of the target, the Ministry of Finance reported.

Ho Chi Minh City has called on US enterprises to invest in 10 major projects of the city, especially those in infrastructure construction.

Six international financial institutions have committed to financing US$2.2 billion in ODA and preferential loans for 20 sustainable development projects in the Mekong Delta in adaption to climate change during 2021-2025.

JICA has signed a loan agreement with the Vietnamese Government to provide a Japanese ODA loan worth over 18,870 million yen for the Disaster and Climate Change Countermeasure project using the earth observation satellite.

The Ministry of Finance recently reported to the Prime Minister on the disbursement of ODA and concessional foreign loans in 2021.

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) has submitted a statement to the Prime Minister about the public debt management program for 2022-2024, and the plan to borrow and pay public debts in 2022.

Numerous projects and investors will be cut off from public investment allocation due to the poor performance of disbursement this year, and this will affect socioeconomic development of localities involved.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh suggested Japan provide Vietnam with new-generation official development assistance with maximum incentives and the simplest procedures.

The Government’s report says that if the GDP in 2021 is below expectations, this will affect state budget overexpenditures as well as the national public debt and foreign debt safety indexes.

The HCM City People's Committee has asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment and Ministry of Finance to disburse Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) capital from the central budget this year

Germany has pledged to provide 50 million EUR ($58.8 million) in official development assistance (ODA) loans and another 63.559 million EUR in non-refundable ODA for 14 technical assistance and investment projects in Vietnam this year.

Low and slow disbursement rates were the biggest limitation and one of the reasons for reducing the efficiency of ODA attraction into Vietnam.

The disbursed amount of public investment funded by ODA in localities in the first five months of 2021 stood at over VND1.1 trillion ($47.9 million), equivalent to just 1.73 percent of the year’s target, according to the Ministry of Finance.