Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Quang Vinh has said that improving the efficiency of the use of Official Development Assistance (ODA) is a priority, especially in the current context of falling public investment.

Vinh also highlighted the significance of ODA, especially to the country’s infrastructure.

The international community is more than satisfied with Vietnam ’s efforts in using the capital effectively, he said.

However, said Vinh, the disbursement of ODA remains slow due to the lack of reciprocal capital, complexity in land clearances and limited management abilities.

To deal with these shortcomings, the minister outlined a range of tasks to draw up a legal framework for managing ODA, including amending and perfecting management procedures and defining how much capital should be allocated and used.

“ODA loans must be considered more carefully in the future, be fit for purpose and have the ability to refund any capital used,” said Vinh.

According to the minister, since 1989, donors have planned to provide Vietnam with 71 billion USD in ODA. So far this year, pledges have climbed to 7.3 billion USD.

In fact, the total ODA capital pledged to Vietnam now stands at 53 billion USD, of which over 33 billion USD has already been disbursed, said Vinh.-VNA