Disbursement of public investment capital in the first 9 months of 2023 reached 51.38% of the plan

On the afternoon of October 23, continuing the program of the sixth session, the National Assembly heard Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung present the Mid-term Assessment Report on the implementation of the Medium-Term Public Investment Plan for the period 2021-2025.

Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai presided over the afternoon session on October 23.

Minister Nguyen Chi Dung stated that, regarding the allocation and disbursement of capital plans, in implementing Resolution No. 29/2021/QH15 of the National Assembly, based on a total capital of 2.87 million billion VND, the Government has allocated medium-term investment capital to ministries, central agencies, and localities reaching approximately 90% of the total capital allowed by the National Assembly (2.72 million billion VND). The remaining capital is over 190,049 billion VND, of which nearly 53,750 billion VND is from the central budget, transferred to the contingency of the medium-term public investment plan, and the National Assembly has allowed the Government to continue directing ministries, central agencies, and localities to complete procedures and approve investment policies; the remaining capital is 137,000 billion VND from the local budget.

The total annual public investment plan (from 2021 to 2023), as approved by the National Assembly, reached 59% of the total medium-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period. However, the central government budget only reached 52.2% of the medium-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period, creating significant pressure on the budget balance in 2024 and 2025. The proportion of development investment expenditure in the total budget expenditure for the three years 2021-2023 accounted for 28.4%; the proportion of public investment capital in the total social investment capital averaged 16.4% over the two years 2021-2022.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung presented the report.

According to Minister Nguyen Chi Dung, in recent years, public investment has played a leading role, acting as seed capital to attract investment resources from the non-state economic sector, creating momentum for economic growth. The average disbursement rate of public investment capital in the two years 2021-2022 reached 93.56% of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister, and in the first nine months of 2023, disbursement reached 51.38% of the plan, higher than the same period in 2022 (46.7%), an absolute increase of 110 trillion VND.

According to the Minister of Planning and Investment, because the capital plan for the following year is basically equivalent to the previous year, there is a possibility that insufficient central government budget funds will be allocated according to the medium-term plan. With a projected plan of 225 trillion VND for 2024, the cumulative allocation over the four years from 2021 to 2024 reaches 61.7% of the total central government budget investment plan approved by the National Assembly. Therefore, it is expected that approximately 376 projects of the medium-term public investment plan for the period 2021-2025, which have already been allocated annual funds, will continue to be implemented and completed during the period 2026-2030.

Members of Parliament attend the afternoon session on October 23.

During the mid-term review of the implementation of the medium-term public investment plan for the period 2021-2025, the Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee, Le Quang Manh, stated that over the past three years of implementing the medium-term public investment plan, the Government, along with ministries, sectors, and localities, have promptly and seriously implemented the tasks and objectives set out in Resolution 29, achieving many positive results.

The medium-term public investment plan for the period 2021-2025, approved by the National Assembly in July 2021, nearly a year earlier than the 2016-2020 period, has created a proactive approach for ministries, sectors, and localities to implement it early in the term. This contributes to the synchronized implementation of the economic restructuring plan and the 5-year socio-economic development plan 2021-2025, helping the economy overcome difficulties, recover, and continue to develop.

Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee Le Quang Manh presented the verification report.

Alongside this, the institutional framework for public investment continues to be improved. In the course of its leadership and management, the Government has implemented many decisive measures to accelerate the disbursement of public investment funds annually, contributing to boosting growth and economic recovery.

Regarding the projected implementation for the remaining two years of the 2021-2025 medium-term public investment plan, the majority of opinions from the Finance and Budget Committee suggest that, given the current allocation of central government budget funds, the allocation and assignment of medium-term and annual capital plans are slow, and the balance of resources for public investment expenditures is not meeting the plan. The need to balance capital resources in the remaining two years is quite significant. Furthermore, the disbursement of funds allocated to projects under the socio-economic recovery and development program is very low, creating significant pressure on resource allocation and the organization of capital disbursement.

Therefore, balancing sufficient central government budget funds is extremely difficult to implement more effectively in the remaining two years of the Plan, while the leading role of the central government budget is not yet guaranteed, and revenue from privatization and divestment of state-owned enterprises is expected to fall significantly short.

"The Committee recommends that the Government carefully assess the actual capital balance capacity and the disbursement situation of allocated funds over the past three years, focusing on allocating and adjusting capital for projects with the potential for disbursement to accelerate progress and improve the efficiency of public investment," Mr. Le Quang Manh reported.

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