Disbursement of public investment is slow, so the funds must be deposited at banks with low interest rates, according to Finance Minister Ho Duc Phuc.
Discussing at the socio-economic group on May 25, Mr. Ha Sy Dong, Standing Vice Chairman of Quang Tri province, mentioned the shortcomings of the national budget backlog. According to him, the balance of state funds deposited in the banking system has now exceeded one million billion dong.
"This is a painful problem when our country is still poor, always lacks capital for development investment but has to face a paradox of money in the pocket that cannot be spent," said Vice Chairman of Quang Tri province.
He likened this to a "blood clot" causing a blockage in the flow of money in the economy. Because the taxes and fees paid by businesses and people to the State Treasury are "backed up" at the State Bank and cannot return to the economy due to the congestion in the public investment disbursement channel.
Sharing in the corridor of the National Assembly, Finance Minister Ho Duc Phuc acknowledged this situation. “Due to the disbursement of public investment capital, the Ministry of Finance has to deposit funds at the State Bank at an interest rate of 0,8% a year,” Phuc said. VnExpress.
Finance Minister Ho Duc Phuc shared in the corridor of the National Assembly on May 25. Image: Mr. Minh
Public investment - which is considered a leading source for private investment to develop - is currently very low disbursed. According to a report of the Ministry of Finance, the disbursement rate of public investment in 4 months reached nearly 14,7% of the year plan. This level only reached nearly 15,7% of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister and lower than the same period in 2022 (18,48%).
According to the Law on Public Investment, there are new projects that are allocated money, but the project preparation stage "switched" will lead to the next stages, such as disbursement of capital, which cannot be realized.
Mr. Phuc analyzed, basic construction includes three stages: investment preparation (project formulation, technical design, project formulation, bidding, bidding, site clearance); investment and settlement.
The most difficult part is preparing to invest. The approved project only takes into account the compensation for site clearance - which takes place slowly, so the investment preparation time is prolonged. This is also the reason leading to the situation of "capital waiting for the project to complete the procedures", causing the amount of money to be prepared for disbursement and settlement blocked.
In the difficult economic context, aggregate demand (social consumption, private investment) decreased, according to the Finance Minister, there should be solutions to increase aggregate demand to stimulate the economy. Accordingly, if public investment is disbursed, it will promote socio-economic development, beneficiary industries and lead private investment.
“We have to amend the law, it is possible to use one law to amend many laws, in which the Law on Public Investment needs to be revised to overcome this situation,” Mr. Phuc said.
The current mechanism allows the State Treasury to optimize its temporarily idle capital, but Mr. Ha Sy Dong questioned that the coordination between fiscal and monetary policies is not really good.
Similarly, Mr. Hoang Van Cuong, Vice Rector of the National Economics University, Committee on Finance and Budget said, "I am very concerned when the money in the budget is available but cannot be spent due to congestion in the disbursement of public funds".
Commenting, Mr. Nguyen Dai Thang, Deputy Head of the specialized delegation of Hung Yen province suggested that the Government should have a more radical solution to remove difficulties and bottlenecks, improve the responsibility of the leader in disbursement of public investment and transfer capital from places where disbursement is slow to where capital is needed, better disbursement.
And Mr. Hoang Van Cuong said that the Government needs to have stronger solutions, such as transferring and handling cadres who do not fulfill their duties and responsibilities. "If only administrative measures are handled, it will be difficult to solve the current reality, because of the widespread fear and anxiety in law enforcement," he said.
On the contrary, Mr. Cuong said that it is also necessary to have a mechanism to protect cadres who dare to think, dare to do, dare to overcome barriers for the sake of work goals and common interests so as not to be linked to mistakes.
"I think it is very necessary to have a resolution of the National Assembly allowing public service agencies to act within the framework to protect cadres who dare to think and dare to do," he concluded.
