The total official development assistance (ODA) capital disbursed during 2009 reached a record of 3.6 billion USD, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Of the total, 3.25 billion USD consisted of loans and the remaining were non-refundable aids.

The satisfactory results demonstrated efforts by the Government, ministries and localities in accelerating ODA disbursement with close coordination between Vietnamese agencies and foreign donors, including institutions such as the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The total ODA allotment signed with donors last year reached over 6.14 billion USD, the highest level so far, with nearly 5.93 billion USD in loans and 215 million USD in non-refundable aids.

The WB recently approved a loan of 500 million USD to Vietnam, the largest loan granted by the bank to the country. This is the first loan in the framework of the WB’s 1 billion USD public investment reform programme aiming to help Vietnam maintain its economic growth./.