[Vnbiz] Vietnam PM Urges Ministries To Step Up Spending To Speed Devt

[Phan, Tai]

Vietnam PM Urges Ministries To Step Up Spending To Speed Devt 



HANOI -(Dow Jones)-June, 8, 2007 - Vietnam's ministries and government agencies have fallen behind in their 2007 spending, and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has urged ministers to disburse funds faster to meet the country's development targets for the year, a government statement said Monday.

"Leaders of the ministries, provinces and larger corporations must have stronger measures to speed up their investment plans for this year," said Dung, who presided over a government meeting Sunday to review economic activities.

Dung blamed ineffective coordination between different ministries and authorities for the slow spending.

The country is targeting economic growth of 8.5% for 2007. It aims to expand it economy by 9% in the second half.

Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc said during the meeting that by the end of the first half of this year, Vietnam would have spent an estimated VND42.4 trillion ($2.65 billion) from the state budget on development projects, accounting for 42.6% of the entire year's budget.

Of that figure, only VND28.5 trillion would have gone to key infrastructure projects, meeting only 30% of the full-year target, Phuc said.

So far this year, Vietnam has spent $795 million of official foreign aid, just 41.8% of the year's budgeted amount. Phuc said this indicated slow implementation for many projects in the agriculture, irrigation, transportation and power sectors.

The State Bank of Vietnam, Tourism Authority and Electricity of Vietnam Corp. have each spent less than 10% of their 2007 budgets so far this year, Phuc added. 

The government's Web site: http://www.chinhphu.vn

-By Nguyen Pham Muoi, Hanoi Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; 844-825-0732; phammuoi.nguyen at dowjones.com

-Edited by Marissa Chew