Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the meeting. (Source: vov.vn) Hanoi (VNA) –Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered ministries and State agencies to cutabove-the-line expenditures and only spend the new ODA funds on developmentinvestment during a meeting on March 8.
Chaired by the PM, themeeting was also attended by Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh andDeputy PM Vuong Dinh Hue. It gathered several relevant ministries and Stateagencies to discuss the management of Vietnam’s ODA and foreign soft loans.
Attendees to the eventagreed that ODA and foreign soft loans should be only used for developmentinvestment and not spent on above-the-line costs like purchases of cars.
This principle needsto be applied throughout the development of a project, from the phase of proposaldelivery, negotiations, to the signing and implementation of contract. However,there is a lack of legal definitions to clarify the differences betweendevelopment investment costs and above-the-line expenditures in ODA projects.
In addition, spendingon development investments often refers to “hard costs”, or those forinfrastructure development while “soft” costs for capacity building, technicalsupport projects, particularly in the fields of healthcare and education arenot included.
Phuc asked theministries and relevant agencies to tighten control on the management of ODAand use the loans more efficiently.
He assigned theMinistry of Finance to make clear of the two expenditures and soon proposed tohim for approval.-VNA
VNA
