Grading results, promoting disbursement of public investment capital
According to information from the Ministry of Finance, disbursement of public investment capital from the beginning of the year to the end of July 31, 2026 reached 425,312 billion VND, equal to 41.9% of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister, 3.6% higher than the same period in 2025.
The Ministry of Finance said that by the end of July, the whole country had 9 ministries, branches and 23 localities with disbursement rates higher than the general average. Among them, some localities both achieved good results in terms of rates and had large disbursed capital volumes, making important contributions to the overall results of the country.
Disbursement results also reflect changes in the organization of implementation at ministries, branches, and localities. Instead of waiting for problems to arise before handling them, many places have switched to closely monitoring the progress of each project, identifying difficulties early to proactively remove them right from the grassroots level, thereby maintaining a stable disbursement pace.
2026 also marked a turning point in management when the mechanism for scoring public investment capital disbursement results according to Decision No. 1129/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister was applied for the first time.
The Ministry of Finance said that the Ministry has completed the information technology system to serve scoring and issued implementation guidelines, creating a basis for regular monitoring the disbursement progress of each ministry, central and local agency.
The quantification of implementation results helps to promptly identify units that do well, those that are still slow, and at the same time enhance the responsibility of the head in organizing implementation.
However, the volume of capital to be disbursed in the remaining months of the year is still very large. The Ministry of Finance believes that ministries, branches and localities need to continue to closely monitor the progress of each project, proactively transfer capital from slow projects to projects with better disbursement capacity.
Along with that, it is necessary to accelerate acceptance and payment as soon as there is completed volume, and at the same time focus on removing bottlenecks in site clearance, materials and investment procedures.
Rapid disbursement is only a necessary condition
According to Mr. Le Thanh Quan - Director of the Infrastructure Development Department, Ministry of Finance, from the perspective of capital efficiency, "quick disbursement is only a necessary condition, the ultimate goal is to improve investment efficiency".
If the project is prolonged, adjusted many times or slow to put into operation, it will increase costs, reduce the efficiency of capital use and adversely affect the ICOR coefficient - an indicator reflecting the level of investment efficiency for economic growth.
According to data from the Statistics Office, the average ICOR coefficient for the period 2021-2025 reached 6.43, down from 6.77 in the period 2016-2020. This index has tended to improve after the period heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but in general it is still at a high level.
In the past 2 years, ICOR has decreased from 5.79 in 2024 to 5.15 in 2025, showing that the capacity to convert capital into actual output still has great room for improvement.
To complete the target of disbursing public investment capital in 2026, and at the same time gradually bring the ICOR coefficient for the 2026-2030 period down to 4.5-4.8, the leader of the Infrastructure Development Department believes that there needs to be close coordination between ministries, sectors and localities in organizing implementation, and synchronously deploying long-term solutions to improve the efficiency of capital use.
Switching from disbursement volume management to investment efficiency
Mr. Quan said that one of the identified solutions is to continue to improve the legal system on public investment; improve the quality of planning, investment preparation and project selection; focus resources on projects with regional and inter-regional connectivity, large spillover effects and the ability to create new growth momentum.
Along with that is to improve the responsibility of heads in organizing implementation, removing bottlenecks in materials, site clearance and project management personnel.
The Ministry of Finance also raised the issue of innovating public investment management thinking in the direction of taking investment efficiency as a goal, gradually shifting from management based on disbursed volume to management based on output results and socio-economic efficiency.
The management and supervision of the implementation process need to be strengthened; regularly review and transfer capital from slow-progress projects to projects with good progress. At the same time, strictly control the adjustment of total investment, extend the implementation time to prevent loss and waste.
In addition, it is necessary to promote digital transformation, complete national databases on finance and public investment; strengthen connection and data sharing between agencies to improve the quality of planning, supervision, investment evaluation and disbursement management on a digital data platform, ensuring publicity, transparency and efficiency.
