Disbursement of public investment was low in the first two months of this year partly due to the impacts of the nine-day Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, according to a Ministry of Finance report.

The report showed that VND16.2 trillion (US$685 million) of public investment was disbursed in January and February, equivalent to 3.89 per cent of the National Assembly target set for the full year.

The ministry attributed the low public investment disbursement to the impacts of the prolonged Tet holiday in early February.

In addition, ministries, ministerial-level agencies and local authorities were still completing plans for public investment in the first two months of this year, making disbursement progress slow in the period.

The finance asked for relevant parties to speed up the progress of public investment disbursement.

The National Assembly has decided to spend VND416.8 trillion for development investment in 2019, 88 per cent of which would come from domestic capital and 12 per cent from foreign capital.

The disbursement of public investment in 2018 reached VND263.6 trillion, meeting just 66 per cent of the National Assembly’s target.

Economic expert Vu Dinh Anh said that greater efforts were needed to reform investment procedures to create favourable conditions for contractors in implementing Government–funded projects. — VNS