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Jun 09, 2016 / 19:07

ODA and preferential loans committed for Vietnam rise by 61% after six months

The total official development assistance (ODA) and concessional loans committed for Vietnam reached more than 2.56 billion USD after six months of 2016, increasing by 61% over the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Deputy Prime Minister (PM) Pham Binh Minh chaired a meeting of the National Steering Committee for ODA and preferential loans in Hanoi on June 8.
In January - June, total ODA and concessional loans committed for Vietnam reached more than 2.56 billion USD, rising by 61% year on year. 
The Ministry of Planning and Investment said the disbursed ODA and concessional loans in the reviewed time decreased by 4% from a year ago to about 1.85 billion USD, including 1.75 billion USD of ODA loans and 100 million USD of non-refundable ODA.
At the meeting, the ministry attributed the slow disbursement on institutional obstacles, specialised regulations and standards, adjustments during project implementation, procedure differences between Vietnam and loan providers, slow preparation of corresponding capital, and sluggish site clearance for projects. 
The biggest difficulty is that the disbursed sum must not exceed the planned amount as stated in the National Assembly’s resolution on the State budget estimates this year, according to the ministry. 
The Ministry of Transport said that at present it has 36 projects funded by ODA and concessional loans, which have been disbursed smoothly for 18 projects but slowly for seven others. 
By the end of the first quarter this year, more than 151 trillion VND (6.76 billion USD) of the 237.97 trillion VND (10.66 billion USD) ODA pledged for transport projects was disbursed. The disbursed corresponding capital was over 33 trillion VND (1.48 billion USD) out of the 71.9 trillion VND (3.22 billion USD) to be disbursed. 

 
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Illustrative image
The Ministry of Transport signed agreements on some 890 million USD of ODA loans for six projects  after six months of this year.
ODA-funded projects of the ministry are large-scale projects with the participation of foreign contractors.
Speaking at the meeting, Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh asked the national steering committee for ODA and concessional loans to streamline administrative procedures in project implementation. 
The Deputy PM stressed that the Ministries of Planning and Investment and Finance should fine-tune related regulations while taking into account the development level of each locality benefiting from ODA projects to ensure the local budget balances. 
Deputy PM Minh also requested the State Bank of Vietnam, the Ministries of Planning and Investment, Finance and Foreign to seek an appropriate roadmap for ODA mobilisation as Vietnam will no longer receive ODA and concessional loans in the coming time.
The Deputy PM also instructed the Ministries of Planning and Investment and Finance to ask the Government and the National Assembly Standing Committee to allow adjusting the ODA disbursement with suppliers’ loan provision progress.