~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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Half of Vietnam's foreign aid yet to be disbursed

HANOI - Half of the more than $13 billion in foreign aid pledged to Vietnam this decade has not been disbursed, Planning and Investment Minister Tran Xuan Gia said.
Gia, quoted by the official Vietnam News Agency on Wednesday, said $6.4 billion had been funnelled into various projects since 1993, when the communist-ruled country returned to the fold of the world financial community. That left at least $6.6 billion to be disbursed.

Vietnam had actually signed formal project agreements that covered $10.6 billion of the total, Gia said. But he said disbursements were lower than the government had targeted, adding there were a number of factors to blame.

The main problems were different policies and procedures required by donors, problems with land clearance for aid projects, the lack of government contributions for joint undertakings and bureaucracy, he said.
Gia added that aid repayments would not put any pressure on the state budget over the next several years. He gave no more details, but previous figures show a narrowing of the gap between pledges and actual disbursements.

Aid flows form a crucial component of Vietnam's development needs, although officials privately say that the country's bureaucracy has struggled to cope with the large amounts of aid committed in recent years. Donors will make fresh aid pledges at the annual World Bank Consultative Group meeting in Hanoi on December 14-15.

Reuters - December 01, 1999.