The paradox of excess capital but insufficient progress: When the central government lags behind local authorities.
Positive developments and efforts to remove bottlenecks to unblock capital flows.
The economic landscape of 2025 places public investment at the center, acting as a "driving force" to guide the development of social resources. Looking at the disbursement progress, we see the tireless efforts of the Government and localities in identifying and addressing obstacles early on. Bottlenecks in land clearance and administrative procedures, often considered "blemishes" in the overall picture, are actually becoming valuable lessons for units to implement more decisive reforms. The strong injection of capital into key projects is not simply about financial figures, but also carries the expectation of transforming the national infrastructure.
Economic experts assess that the shift in management thinking is beginning to yield positive results. Instead of focusing solely on funding, authorities are now paying more attention to partnering with businesses and localities to resolve difficulties on the ground. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung, former Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management Research (CIEM), believes that public investment in 2025 is facing a great opportunity to improve the quality of implementation. According to him, the pressure to complete the plan for the final year of the 2021-2025 term is immense, but this is also the driving force for ministries and sectors to innovate their working methods. He emphasized that stronger decentralization and delegation of power to localities in adjusting investment policies and deciding on Group B and Group C projects will be key to accelerating progress. When local authorities are given greater autonomy, they will be more proactive in allocating resources and handling emerging situations, thereby significantly reducing the time spent waiting for approvals from higher levels.
However, economic experts also noted that the most concerning point in the Ministry of Finance 's report is the disparity between local and central government budgets. While provinces and cities have strived to achieve an absolute disbursement rate of 99.9%, central ministries and agencies, which hold key national-oriented projects, have only reached 63.9%.
Commenting on this situation, Dr. Le Duy Binh, chief economist at Economica Vietnam, noted that the disbursement disbursement disbursement disbursement between the central and local levels is an indicator that the project management mechanism at the ministerial level is revealing many weaknesses. Localities face pressure to directly account to voters and require close supervision from local authorities, while at the central level, the approval and control process often goes through many intermediate layers, leading to a breakdown in information and action.
Concentrating the disbursement volume in the final month not only puts tremendous pressure on the treasury system but also poses significant risks to the quality of construction projects.
Furthermore, the capacity of project management boards and contractors remains a major question mark. In reality, many winning bidders lack both the manpower and equipment necessary for simultaneous implementation. The "big promises, small results" in project implementation, coupled with the reluctance and fear of making mistakes among some officials, leads to a backlog of payment documents. Concentrating disbursements in the final month not only puts immense pressure on the treasury system but also poses significant risks to construction quality and transparency in expenditure control.
Enhancing administrative enforcement capacity
In the context of budget disbursement in 2025, the Ministry of Finance plays the role of "gatekeeper" of the budget; however, according to some economic experts, an objective and fair assessment reveals limitations in its flexibility.
Notably, although the current expenditure control process has improved, it is still considered rigid and burdensome by the business community due to excessive paperwork. In reality, the reporting system lacks foresight and remains slow to react to market fluctuations such as construction material prices or force majeure events like natural disasters.
In particular, according to economic experts, the biggest limitation lies in the mechanism for transferring capital between projects. The process of appraisal and submission to competent authorities for changes to capital plans is often lengthy, causing resources to be "locked" in slow-progressing projects instead of being immediately transferred to projects that are "starved" for capital but are progressing well. Excessive caution in handling obstacles related to contract price adjustments or environmental procedures for ODA projects has inadvertently created an invisible barrier, discouraging contractors.
Steel and sand prices fluctuate daily, and even a delay in payment of just a few months is enough to cripple a business's cash flow...
Furthermore, the unusual natural disasters in 2025 also revealed the system's lack of preparedness in responding to emergencies. Projects damaged by storms and floods took too long to reassess the damage and adjust the budget, causing significant delays in reconstruction. This is a costly lesson about building a more flexible contingency financial mechanism that prioritizes the rapid resolution of projects affected by natural disasters, allowing for their early return to operation.
To truly "reach the finish line" and build momentum for 2026, economic experts believe that the Ministry of Finance needs to remove obstacles and shortcomings and further accelerate reforms. A smart shift from post-audit to pre-audit, along with the strong application of technology to ensure transparency throughout the entire document flow process, is an urgent requirement.
Disbursing public investment is not just about "spending money," but about "unlocking the lifeblood" of the economy.
In light of this situation, the leaders of the Ministry of Finance frankly acknowledged these shortcomings and committed to reviewing operational procedures to reduce inconvenience for taxpayers and budget beneficiaries. However, this commitment needs to be concretized with clear guiding documents, enabling implementing officials to act responsibly and take responsibility without fear of legal risks due to overlapping current regulations.
Disbursing public investment is not just about "spending money," but about "unlocking the lifeline" of the economy. In the remaining days of the 2025 plan year, without a decisive push from the highest levels and seamless, understanding coordination between management agencies, investors, and businesses, we will continue to miss our development goals. Financial discipline must go hand in hand with practical flexibility; only then will public investment truly become a powerful driving force propelling the Vietnamese economy further in the new cycle of 2026-2030.
Source: https://vtv.vn/no-luc-thao-go-diem-nghen-tao-da-tang-toc-giai-ngan-dau-tu-cong-100260112120818709.htm
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