Leveraging to achieve double-digit growth targets.

The medium-term public investment plan for 2026-2030 has been finalized by the National Assembly at 8.22 million billion VND. If disbursed on schedule and used effectively, this will be a leverage for double-digit growth in the 2026-2030 period.

Accelerating the disbursement of public investment capital is a lever for double-digit growth. Photo: Duc Thanh

Prioritize key projects, reduce scattered investments.

Of the total resources of 8.22 million billion VND in the 2026-2030 Medium-Term Public Investment Plan, 3.8 million billion VND comes from the central government budget and 4.42 million billion VND from local governments budgets. This is a very large amount of resources compared to the 2.87 million billion VND in the 2021-2025 Medium-Term Public Investment Plan.

According to Minister of Finance Ngo Van Tuan, this figure is necessary for achieving the double-digit growth target, coupled with macroeconomic stability in the 2026-2030 period.

When presenting the explanatory report, just before the National Assembly delegates voted to approve the Plan on the last working day of the first session of the 16th National Assembly, Minister Ngo Van Tuan stated that these resources would be prioritized for allocation to nationally important projects, key projects, tasks and projects under the Central Committee's action program to implement the Resolution of the 14th Party Congress; and projects to implement the strategic resolutions of the Politburo .

A key principle is to allocate capital in a focused and targeted manner, reducing the number of projects by at least 30% compared to the 2021-2025 period, for both central and local government budget projects (for central government budget projects, the number is projected to be under 3,000 compared to 4,652 projects in the 2021-2025 period). Along with this, the goal is to use capital efficiently, striving to achieve an Incremental Capital Output Ratio (ICOR) of 4.5-4.8, lower than the 6.4 of the 2021-2025 period.

These proposals were highly appreciated by the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee from the outset during the review process. However, Mr. Phan Van Mai, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Committee, also suggested that the Government should conduct a comprehensive and thorough assessment of the context and impacts of the current global situation on the Public Investment Plan for the period 2026-2030 in order to develop appropriate and effective response plans and scenarios.

The auditing agency emphasized the principle of focused investment, avoiding scattered spending, prioritizing ongoing and unfinished projects due to lack of funding, and planning and investment preparation tasks. "The proposal to reduce the ICOR coefficient is positive, reflecting a direction to improve investment efficiency in the context of setting a double-digit economic growth target," the auditing agency stressed, while also requesting the Government to clarify the basis for determining the reduction in the ICOR index, fully assess its feasibility based on the efficiency of using social investment capital and the practical implementation of public investment in the past, especially the situation of delays and unsatisfactory disbursement.

2026 marks the first year of implementing the 2026-2030 Medium-Term Public Investment Plan. For the Plan to be successfully implemented and become a "lever" for double-digit growth, it is essential to start by accelerating the disbursement of over 1 trillion VND of the 2026 public investment plan.

Responding to the opinions of the review agency and National Assembly deputies, Minister Ngo Van Tuan stated that the Government has proposed a comprehensive system of solutions to ensure the feasibility and effectiveness of the implementation of the 2026-2030 medium-term public investment plan. In addition to focusing capital allocation on key areas, quarterly assessments and updates will be conducted on disbursement progress, project preparation status, and emerging obstacles. Projects that are behind schedule without objective reasons will have their funding cut or reallocated. The general principle is that central government budget funds will be concentrated on strategic infrastructure projects, connecting regions, areas, and internationally, as well as breakthrough projects for socio-economic development. Regarding local budgets, localities will have the autonomy to decide on investments according to their plans and capital balancing capabilities, following the principle of "local authorities decide, local authorities discuss, local authorities implement, and local authorities take responsibility," as has been implemented for a long time.

In addition, it is necessary to improve the quality of investment preparation and project preparation, ensuring project readiness; tighten discipline and order; strengthen inspection, supervision, post-audit and strictly handle violations; improve the effectiveness of coordination between public investment and private investment; implement effective solutions to mobilize domestic and private resources for development investment to achieve the set goals…

Utilize investment capital effectively.

The 8.22 million billion VND in resources will only act as a leverage for double-digit growth if they are disbursed promptly and used effectively.

During discussions on the Draft Medium-Term Public Investment Plan 2026-2030, many National Assembly deputies raised this issue. According to Deputy Nguyen Duy Minh (Da Nang), the problem lies not in a lack of capital, but in the operational mechanism and implementation organization.

"One of the biggest bottlenecks today is the complex and interconnected investment process and procedures, which involve many steps, each with its own set of documents, leading to prolonged project preparation times," said delegate Nguyen Duy Minh, adding that it is necessary to amend relevant laws directly related to public investment to establish a unified, interconnected process, minimize intermediate procedures, and allow for the parallel implementation of steps in a suitable manner.

"We need to continue reviewing and resolutely remove from the list those projects that are merely for reserving land. In reality, there are many projects that have been allocated capital in multiple medium-term public investment plans, but the land clearance has not been completed to date," said delegate Nguyen Duy Minh.

Meanwhile, according to delegate Le Huu Tri (Khanh Hoa), while reducing the number of projects by at least 30% compared to the 2021-2025 period is necessary, it is more important that every dollar of public investment spent achieves socio-economic efficiency and makes a substantial contribution to the growth of the economy.

"If an investment project does not clearly demonstrate its investment efficiency, it must be decisively cut, and the responsibility of those who proposed or decided on the investment policy for the project must be clarified," Representative Le Huu Tri stated frankly.

Meanwhile, delegate Doan Thi Le An (Cao Bang) raised the long-standing issue of uneven disbursement of funds among ministries, departments, and localities, noting that some areas have funds but cannot spend them.

“This reflects systemic bottlenecks ranging from institutions and procedures to the capacity for implementation and the accountability of leaders. Based on this reality, I propose that the Government continue to focus more strongly on improving institutions in a way that simplifies processes, clarifies responsibilities, enhances the quality of investment preparation, and especially overcomes the fear of making mistakes, creating motivation for officials to dare to act and take responsibility for the common good,” emphasized delegate Doan Thi Le An.

Almost simultaneously with the National Assembly's approval of the 2026-2030 Medium-Term Public Investment Plan, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung also chaired the National Conference on Accelerating the Allocation and Disbursement of Public Investment Capital in 2026.

Reporting at the Conference, Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Quoc Phuong stated that, as of mid-April 2026, the disbursement of public investment capital for the 2026 plan reached VND 127,390.6 billion, equivalent to 12.6% of the plan. Of this, central government budget capital disbursement reached 9.6%, and local government budget capital reached 14.2%.

Notably, while 7 ministries and agencies and 16 localities achieved disbursement rates equal to or higher than the overall average, 16 ministries and agencies still had disbursement rates below 1%. Some units were allocated large amounts of capital but had low disbursement rates, affecting the overall progress.

Many factors affect the disbursement of public investment funds, including subjective factors. Therefore, removing bottlenecks to accelerate the disbursement of public investment funds is crucial.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/don-bay-de-thuc-hien-muc-tieu-tang-truong-2-con-so-d580962.html