Sack officials for public investment disbursement failures: PM

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has called for strict measures to speed up public investment implementation, including the sacking of officials who fail to discharge their responsibilities.

In a dispatch he signed Friday, the PM called for broadbased efforts from ministries, state agencies and localities to expedite disbursement of public investment, noting that the first seven months saw just 37.8% of the year target met.

In the face of prolonged global economic headwinds, the government has identified boosting public investment as a key impetus measure; therefore, implementation barriers should be removed, the PM stressed.

In his dispatch, Chinh said the heads of ministries, state agencies and localities have to take full responsibility for public investment disbursement. Officials failing to perform their tasks in the process have to be replaced, he added.

Public-funded development projects using official development assistance (ODA) from other countries have fallen behind schedule due to lengthy processes involved in purchasing needed equipment.

Another reason for the slower-than-planned disbursement of public investment is that ministries and state agencies had earlier proposed that plans for this year are scaled down. Hence, they had not pushed the implementation process hard.

Vietnam’s ministries, state agencies and localities need to disburse VND711 trillion ($29.9 billion) in public investment in the second half of 2023 to fulfil the year target set by the government, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong said at monthly press conference early July.

The World Bank, in its latest economic update titled ‘Making Public Investment Work for Growth’ released August 9, said that a proactive fiscal policy supporting short-term demand, removing barriers to the implementation of public investment and addressing infrastructure constraints can help Vietnam’s economy achieve its growth targets and promote long-term growth.

The bank forecast a moderate 4.7% growth in 2023 for Vietnam, adding that it expects an acceleration to 5.5% next year and 6% the year after, according to Vietnam's General Statistics Office (GSO).

The government will not revise its GDP growth target of 6.5% for 2023 and strive to achieve economic expansion of about 9% in the second half of the year, Prime Minister Chinh said on August 5.

At a cabinet meeting in Hanoi, the PM requested special attention be given to ensuring macro-economic balances and harmony between interest rates and exchange rates, whilst prioritizing growth, promoting both aggregate supply and demand and the three growth drivers - investment, export and consumption.