ODA forecast to pass 5 billion USD

The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has forecast that the country can reach its ODA commitments of 5.056 billion USD this year, after intensifying its efforts to attract ODA over the last ten months.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has forecast that the country canreach its ODA commitments of 5.056 billion USD this year, after intensifying itsefforts to attract ODA over the last ten months.

According to the MPI,over 3.85 billion USD of ODA has been pledged in the past ten months,representing a rise of 9.85 percent over the same period last year. This sumincluded 3.7 billion USD in loans and the remainder in non-refundableaid.

The World Bank (WB), the Asia Development Bank (ADB) and Japanremain the major providers of ODA to Vietnam for projects and programmesinvolving transport, water supply, urban development, energy, rural developmentand poverty reduction, said the ministry.

It estimates that ODA worthover 1.2 billion USD will be agreed upon in the last two months of theyear.

This amount will cover the building of Thai Binh power plant worth111 million USD, a sixth credit programme worth 96 million USD, a programme todevelop human resources in the health sector valued at 60 million USD and theVinh Thinh bridge project worth 100 million USD.

Based on the fact that1.86 billion USD of ODA was disbursed in the past ten months, or 98 percent ofthe yearly plan, the MPI calculates that the disbursement of ODA will reach 3billion USD for the whole year.

International financial analysts have ahigh estimation of Vietnam ’s response to this years economic crisis which hasenabled the national economy to recover rapidly and may soon build up enoughmomentum to grow, said the MPI.

It raised the issue that in 2010,European donors will revise their ODA policies on Vietnam and gradually reducethe amount of non-refundable aid and focus more on providing technicalassistance.

However, the ODA regulator is of the opinion that the countrywould not face a drop in ODA in 2010 due to the appearance of new channels ofcredit, but of course with less preferential treatment than before.

As aresult, the MPI estimates that in 2010 the country will receive ODA commitmentsof 5.07 billion USD with the biggest providers remaining the WB, ADB and Japan,who all can pledge up to 70-80 percent of the value of the committedODA.

Large projects that use ODA loans in 2010 will include a 710 millionUSD project to build an international terminal (T2) at Noi Bai airport, the 1.3billion USD Da Nang-Quang Ngai expressway, a 615 million USD infrastructureproject for Lang-Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park and the construction of a 150 million USDroad linking Hanoi’s outlying Nhat Tan bridge to Noi Baiairport.

According to the MPI, if the ODA estimates become a reality, theODA that the nation will attract for the 2006-2010 period will hit 20 billionUSD, surpassing the target of 12.3-15.7 billion USD put forward in theministry’s plans to attract and use ODA./.

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