Hanoi (VNA) - Disbursement of public investment was low in the first twomonths of this year partly due to the impacts of the nine-day Tet (Lunar NewYear) holiday, according to a Ministry of Finance report.

The report showed that 16.2 trillion VND (685 million USD) of public investmentwas disbursed in January and February, equivalent to 3.89 percent of theNational Assembly target set for the full year.

The ministry attributed the low public investment disbursement to the impactsof the prolonged Tet holiday in early February.

In addition, ministries, ministerial-level agencies and local authorities werestill completing plans for public investment in the first two months of thisyear, making disbursement progress slow in the period.

The finance asked for relevant parties to speed up the progress of publicinvestment disbursement.

The National Assembly has decided to spend 416.8 trillion VND for developmentinvestment in 2019, 88 percent of which would come from domestic capital and 12percent from foreign capital.

The disbursement of public investment in 2018 reached 263.6 trillion VND,meeting just 66 percent of the National Assembly’s target.

Economic expert Vu Dinh Anh said that greater efforts were needed to reforminvestment procedures to create favourable conditions for contractors inimplementing Government–funded projects.-VNA