Reasons for the stagnation in progress of national target programs

According to the Ministry of Finance, slow allocation of regular budget, problems with the post-merger apparatus, lack of grassroots human resources, etc. are the reasons why the progress of implementing national target programs has stalled.

The national target program on new rural construction has the highest disbursement rate, reaching 56%. Illustrative photo: Duc Hanh/VNA

According to the synthesis report of the Ministry of Finance , the total state budget capital for the three national target programs in 2025 is up to nearly 75,000 billion VND; of which, capital from the central budget is 52,584 billion VND, the remaining more than 22,370 billion VND is from the local budget.

However, by August 31, 2025, the total disbursed public investment capital of the three national target programs had only reached about VND 26,426 billion, equivalent to 50% of the plan. Of which, the disbursed public investment capital from previous years was about VND 3,487 billion, reaching 45%; the planned capital for 2025 is VND 22,939 billion, reaching 51% of the plan.

Details of disbursement of each program, the national target program for new rural construction has the highest disbursement rate, reaching 56%, equivalent to more than 15,000 billion VND. The socio -economic development program for ethnic minority and mountainous areas disbursed about 9,125 billion VND, reaching 45%. Meanwhile, the Sustainable Poverty Reduction Program achieved the lowest rate of 42%, equivalent to about 2,270 billion VND.

By program, the New Rural Development Program achieved the highest regular budget disbursement rate at 32.1%. The Poverty Reduction Program achieved 21.5% and the Ethnic Minority Area Program achieved 23.2%.

Some units have a positive disbursement rate of regular funds from the central budget, such as: Ministry of National Defense (98.9%), Ministry of Public Security (78.9%)... and the provinces of Dien Bien (66.1%), Da Nang (52.4%), Ninh Binh (40.6%)...

In addition, many ministries, branches and localities have low disbursement rates, of which 3 central agencies have a disbursement rate of 0%, 9 localities have a disbursement rate of less than 15%. At the time of reporting, there are still more than 10,354 billion VND of regular budget that has not been allocated; of which, the Ethnic Minority Area Program accounts for more than 8,299 billion VND, poverty reduction is 1,919 billion VND, the rest is the new rural program.

The Ministry of Finance said that there are many reasons for the slow disbursement; among them, there are systemic reasons that have lasted for many years; that is, program owners are slow in proposing to allocate the remaining regular budget, causing the situation of "existing but not being able to use".

Along with that, the process of restructuring the local government apparatus is also the reason why capital allocation, payment and disbursement procedures are delayed due to changes in investors, approval agencies and accounting systems.

In addition, the shortage of human resources and concurrent positions at the grassroots level occurred commonly after the merger, causing the implementation of the work to be interrupted. Many mountainous and midland localities faced heavy rains and landslides, causing the construction progress to stagnate.

A representative of the Department of Infrastructure Development, Ministry of Finance, said that the unit has requested ministries, branches and localities to focus on seriously and drastically implementing the contents of the national target program, striving to disburse 100% of the plan in 2025.

The Ministry of Finance has reminded ministries and localities to strengthen supervision and inspection, promptly handle problems within their authority or propose specific instructions to relevant agencies. Ministries and localities that have not yet allocated all public investment capital from the central budget in 2025 must urgently complete it before September 30, 2025 and be responsible for the delay.

The Ministry of Finance also requested the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and Religions to promptly have a plan to handle the unallocated regular budget of the Socio-Economic Development Program for Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas, to be completed before September 30, 2025 to avoid loss and waste of resources; at the same time, localities need to continue to strengthen the Steering Committees of national target programs at all levels, rearrange human resources at the grassroots level to ensure the disbursement progress of both public investment capital and regular budget of the national target program in the last months of the year.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/chinh-sach-va-cuoc-song/nguyen-nhan-khien-tien-do-cac-chuong-trinh-muc-tieu-quoc-gia-chung-lai-20250918114635990.htm