The Vietnamese government is making a concerted effort to expedite the allocation of $1.1 billion in public investment funds.

The Government plans to allocate $38.5 million for the Gia Binh airport project, $77 million for the Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang expressway project, and $58.46 million for two projects of the Supreme People's Court.

Only 14 percent of capital had been disbursed by the end of May. HCM City Mayor Phan Van Mai said the people’s committee will inspect every project and every contractor to solve the problems behind the sluggish disbursement.

The disbursement of public investment funded by foreign sources in localities is relatively low at present, requiring solutions to difficulties facing each project, an official of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said on May 21.

Vietnam is being advised by economists to have a bigger focus on boosting the expansion of fiscal policy to fuel domestic production and business activities.

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang has affirmed that money is ready for disbursement and payments will be made gradually as the work goes on.

High-profile international organisations are urging Vietnam to quicken its public funding as an effective fiscal policy move to attract more funding from private investors, who bemoan a lack of high-quality infrastructure works in the country.

The Ministry of Finance has announced the public investment disbursement in the two-month period with positive results, as both the total disbursed capital and the disbursement rate were higher than the same period last year.

The Government proposed to the National Assembly an additional allocation of more than 63.72 trillion VND (2.59 billion USD) for the mid-term public investment plan from the central budget for the 2021-2025 period.

The disbursement of public investment in 2023 was projected to reach 95% of the plan, equivalent to over 27 billion USD, marking the record high so far, according to Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong.

As much as 579.8 trillion VND (23.77 billion USD) worth of public investment was disbursed last year, equivalent to 73.5% of the yearly plan and nearly 82% of that assigned by the Prime Minister, according to the Ministry of Finance.

As the year draws to a close, Vietnam is intensifying efforts to accelerate the disbursement of public investment funds.

As of October 31, the disbursement of public investment was estimated at over 401.86 trillion VND (16.37 billion USD), completing 52.1% of the set plan and 56.84% of the target assigned by the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance reported.

As economic growth is slowing down, the production sector is facing difficulties and people have had to tighten their purse strings. Fiscal expansion needs to be considered.

While the public investment spending rate in the first half of the year was much better than the same period last year, some transport infrastructure projects were still implemented too slowly compared to the set plan.

Rebounds in retail and consumption services and in the disbursement of public investment are expected to put pressure on the country’s efforts to bring inflation under control this year.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment has been assigned to publicize the names of ministries, central bodies, and localities that have a disbursement rate of public capital below the country’s average rate on the national public service portal.

A series of construction enterprises will benefit from the Government implementing multiple strategic public investment infrastructure projects.

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc said since capital for public investments cannot be disbursed, the Ministry of Finance has had to leave VND1 quadrillion worth of capital at banks with the interest rate of 0.8 percent per annum.