Hanoi (VNA) – Strong disbursement of publicinvestment, especially from the second quarter of this year, has helped increasedemands and promote growth of economic sectors, thus contributing to boostingeconomic growth in the second quarter and the first half of 2023, said GeneralDirector of the General Statistics Office Nguyen Thi Huong.

In an interview granted to Vietnam News Agency (VNA) on therole of public investment in the national economic growth, Huong noted that inthe second quarter of this year, Vietnam posted an economic growth rate of4.14%, higher than the 3.28% recorded in the first quarter of this year, showingthe efficiency of policies and measures given by the Government and PrimeMinister.

In the second quarter, over 140.4 trillion VND (5.93 billionUSD) of public investment was disbursed, completing 19.93% of the plan for thewhole year, up 52.8% over the first quarter and 21.8% year on year.

The total disbursement in the first half of this yearwas estimated at over 232.2 trillion VND, fulfilling 33% of the yearly plan,and up 20.5% year on year, which is a positive result, she said, attributing itto the efforts and determination of the Government, the PM and ministries,sectors and localities in speeding up the pubic-invested projects right fromthe beginning of the year.

She underlined that many projects in the socio-economicrecovery and development programme have had their investment procedurecompleted to enable their implementation, the same as for many others in themiddle-term public investment plan in the 2021-2025 period, which will make thedisbursement of public investment capital in this year faster than previousyears.

Along with the efforts of ministries, sectors and localitiesin the work, investors and project management boards have also shown strongperformance in implementing the projects, she said.

Particularly, the PM has direct drastic measures to removedifficulties and obstacles hindering public investment disbursement to speed upthe work, with the issuance of various decisions and directives, includinga decision to form five working groups specialising in the work in ministries,sectors and localities, and a directive specifying major solutions to speed uppublic investment capital and that for three national target programmes in2023 and the socio-economic recovery and development programme, Huong noted.

Regarding measures to strengthen public investmentdisbursement for the rest of the year, the GSO leader said that there is a longway to go to complete the target of disbursing 95-100% of the total publicinvestment capital for this year.

She held that it is necessary to focus on completing thelegal system for the implementation of public-invested projects from project preparation to operation.

Ministries, sectors and localities should drasticallyrealise directions given by the Government and the PM on the allocation anddisbursement of public investment capital and capital for the three nationaltarget programmes and the socio-economic recovery and development programme,she said.

Huong stressed the need for leaders of ministries, sectorsand localities to directly follow particular project groups to give timelymeasures to settle difficulties.

Together with preparing land for the project, it isnecessary to ensure quality of the projects and efficiency of the capital byreviewing and assessing the disbursement of each project to make adjustments,she said.

Huong also underlined the necessity to strengthenadministrative discipline, decentralisation and delegation of power, improvingleading officials’ sense of responsibility, and strictly handlingviolations, while enhancing coordination among ministries, sectors, centralagencies and localities in the work.

The People’s Committees of centrally-run cities and provincesshould roll out measures to control prices and quality of constructionmaterials for projects using public investment capital, laying the foundationfor the adjustment of bidding packages and total investment of projects, Huongadded./.