ODA funds boost infrastructure plan

The official development assistance (ODA) disbursement included $3.65 billion of loans and $250 million of non-refund aids. “It is a positive result, especially amid economic difficulties, and at a time when Vietnam has become a middle-income nation for which ODA tends to reduce,” MPI Minister Bui Quang Vinh said.

Last week, Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Yasuaki Tanizaki told VIR that Japan, which was Vietnam’s biggest bilateral ODA donor, had been providing Vietnam with $2.6 billion over this fiscal year, from April 2012 to March 2013. Of that amount, $1.4 billion was disbursed for the period’s first six months, focusing largely on infrastructure projects in Vietnam. In the previous fiscal year, Japan provided $2.7 billion in ODA loans.

“We will continue to assist Vietnam’s economic development, especially to help it realise the goal of becoming a modern industrialised country by 2020. In other words, we would like to support Vietnam for it to better adapt to the market economy system and enhance its competitiveness sustainably,” Tanizaki said.

At the 2012 annual Consultative Group (CG) meeting of donors for Vietnam in Hanoi on December 10, 2012, development partners pledged $6.485 billion in ODA for Vietnam’s development agenda in 2013.

“The new $6.485 billion ODA has manifested the international donors’ great confidence in Vietnam’s ODA usage. It is a very big sum and reflects their very kind heart to the country,” Vinh said.

The minister said the support was even more significant, especially amid the growing European public debt and the world’s troubled economic situation.

This $6.485 billion would be mainly used for Vietnam’s infrastructure, poverty reduction, climate change and social security projects. It came from 30 development partners, including 25 countries and five big international organisations.

Vinh said 2013 was forecast to be another difficult year not only for Vietnam, but also for all donors. “We understand that donors also find it difficult in giving their financial assistance to Vietnam, while their budget is being tightened. Still, Vietnam would like to continue being supported by the international community, because their assistance is an important capital source for the country’s poverty reduction and development investment.”

Since 1993, total ODA committed to Vietnam has exceeded $76.5 billion. For instance, the figures were $7.386 billion in 2012, $7.9 billion in 2011 and over $8 billion in 2010, and $24.8 billion in between 2003 and 2009.
ODA disbursement reached $2.94 billion in 2010 and $3.65 billion in 2011.