The Ministry of Transport plans to start 67 new projects in the medium-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the world economy could lose trillions of dollars due to the prolonged pandemic, with developing economies suffering the most damage. 

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has decided to establish six working groups to accelerate the disbursement of public investment capital in 2021 at ministries, agencies and localities.

Financing public investment to generate future growth and to speed up economic recovery post-COVID-19 remained Vietnam's most important challenge in the near future, said economists and policymakers. 

Nine ministries have told the Ministry of Finance they want to return a total of VND 8,054 billion of foreign loans that they could not disburse.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh convened a national teleconference on Tuesday to seek ways to disburse nearly VND 250 trillion (over US$11 billion) in public investment capital within the next three months.

The total state’s spending in 2021-2025 is predicted to reach VND10.26 quadrillion, of which 28 percent would be spent for investment and development.

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According to the Government's report, Vietnam’s GDP in 2020 reached $271.2 billion, 1.4 times higher than that of 2015. GDP per capita in 2020 was $2,779, 1.3 times higher than 2015.

In the 2019 audit report on state budget finalization, the State Audit noted that outstanding debts in capital construction in localities are still high.

Some officials tasked to allocate public investment capital give themselves the right to "grant favors" to agencies and businesses.

According to the public investment plan in the period 2021-2025, the total state budget capital allocated for this period is VND2.87 quadrillion, not VND2,750 trillion as being reported to the 10th session of the 14th National Assembly.

Public investment will focus on important and key industries and sectors of the economy, of which economic sectors account for more than 71%.

The COVID-19 health crisis and the resulting economic downturn has thrown a spanner in the works of already tardy public spending, hindering Vietnam’s efforts to revive its post-pandemic economy and speed up slowing GDP growth.

The domestic economy has been gradually escaping from a slowdown, with growth bouncing back over the past three months thanks to the government’s efforts to curb the pandemic and remove enterprises’ obstructions,

The groups will be charge of handling outstanding projects with an aim to help solve longstanding problems at ministries and branches, and in localities.

The total public investment capital has increased sharply in the 2021-2025 period compared with 2016-2020, but the number of projects has fallen significantly.

Vietnam plans to outlay 2.87 quadrillion VND (124.5 billion USD) on public investment in the 2021-2025 period, up 120 trillion VND compared to the previous estimate.

Vietnam is to continue speeding up disbursement of public investment, with a focus on infrastructure development, in a bid to spur on economic growth and create more space for private enterprises.

Ten ministries and agencies, as well as 45 localities, are giving back the capital allocated to them as they did not spend all the money they received in 2020.