Avoiding a backlog of payment obligations
According to the Ministry of Finance, as of October 31, 2026, the cumulative disbursement of public investment capital for the 2026 plan reached over 708 trillion VND, equivalent to 74.1% of the target set by the Prime Minister.
Excluding the 5% of local budget-funded public investment capital set aside for the planned Lao Cai–Ha Noi–Hai Phong railway project, the national disbursement rate reached 76.6% of the Prime Minister’s target. Compared to the same period in 2025, this represented an increase of 19.7 percentage points and an absolute value increase of nearly 218 trillion VND.
Notably, capital disbursement accelerated in September, reaching 1.58 times the volume of the previous month (133.4 trillion VND), signaling an intensification of progress during the final months of the year. In October, the volume of disbursed funds reached 65.6 trillion VND.
As of October 31, 2026, 8 ministries/central agencies and 16 localities had achieved disbursement rates above the national average. Conversely, 25 ministries/central agencies and 18 localities remained below the national average, with 2 ministries/agencies recording rates of less than 15% or having yet to disburse any funds at all.
In the socio-economic landscape of the first nine months of 2026, Ha Tinh province stood out by ranking second nationwide in terms of Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) growth, reaching 12.3%, while also achieving positive results in the disbursement of public investment capital. This positive trend continued throughout October.
To achieve investment disbursement results that exceeded the planned schedule, thereby making a robust contribution to economic growth, Ha Tinh province implemented a series of decisive measures. These included establishing task forces, led by a Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee, to conduct weekly on-site supervision; assigning clear responsibilities and specific deadlines for resolving issues related to compensation and site clearance; and publicly disclosing disbursement figures, with accountability linked directly to the heads of the relevant agencies.
A specific characteristic of investment activities is that even when a volume of work has been completed, funds cannot be disbursed if the documentation required for submission to the State Treasury is incomplete. To prevent a backlog of payments toward the end of the year, the Provincial Party Standing Committee has tasked the Department of Finance and the State Treasury with monitoring disbursement progress, advising on the reallocation of funds, providing guidance, and streamlining the processing time for documentation, all while accelerating construction and the payment for completed work.
Sharing insights on accelerating disbursements, Ngo Duc Quy, Deputy Director of the Ha Tinh Civil Construction Investment Project Management Board, noted that thanks to administrative reform and the application of information technology, all payment procedures through the State Treasury are now conducted online. Consequently, the processing time for disbursements has been reduced to just two days for payment applications and one day for advance payment requests.
Using KPIs to drive disbursement
As the process enters the final stretch toward achieving the goal of 100% disbursement of the 2026 public investment capital plan, several challenges persist. These include long-standing issues such as slow site clearance, delayed capital allocation due to incomplete investment procedures, and limited project execution capacity among some project owners. Furthermore, there are additional hurdles, including shortages in the supply of construction materials, rising material costs, difficulties in attracting labor, and increasing labor expenses.
Nguyen Thi Mai Hanh, Head of the National Accounts Division under the National Statistics Office, stated that bolstering growth drivers, namely public investment, exports, and consumption, is a decisive factor in achieving a double-digit growth target for 2026. Consequently, accelerating the disbursement of public investment funds and translating them into actual construction volume and productive capacity during the fourth quarter is of critical importance.
Starting with the October 2026 reporting period, the Ministry of Finance has officially implemented a KPI-based scoring system to evaluate the execution and disbursement of public investment funds. According to Nguyen Thi Que Huong, Deputy Director of the Department of Investment and Infrastructure Development under the Ministry of Finance, a trial run of this scoring system was conducted during the July, August, and September reporting periods to refine the evaluation and ranking methodology, ensuring it more accurately reflects actual performance.
The disbursement scores for October 2026 indicated that, regarding the execution of the 2026 capital plan, 7 ministries/central agencies and 13 localities achieved a “very good” disbursement rating. Among these, 5 ministries/central agencies and 1 locality, the Viet Nam Bank for Social Policies, the State Bank of Viet Nam, the Viet Nam Development Bank, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of National Defence, and Dien Bien Province, attained the maximum score (100 points).
Additionally, 15 ministries/central agencies and 16 localities were rated as having “good” disbursement; 7 ministries/central agencies and 4 localities were rated as “average”; and 4 ministries/central agencies and 1 locality were rated as having “suboptimal” (not yet good) disbursement.
Regarding the disbursement of capital plans carried over from previous periods, 9 ministries/central agencies and 17 localities achieved a “very good” disbursement rating. Among these, 7 ministries/central agencies and 15 localities, namely the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Justice, the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, the Viet Nam News Agency, the Ministry of Construction, the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, Viet Nam National University-Ho Chi Minh City, as well as the localities of Hai Phong, Gia Lai, Dien Bien, Nghe An, Lai Chau, Ha Tinh, Dong Thap, Da Nang, Quang Ngai, Lam Dong, Thanh Hoa, Lao Cai, Tuyen Quang, Dak Lak, and Thai Nguyen, attained the maximum score (100 points).
Additionally, 3 ministries/central agencies and 10 localities were rated as having “good” disbursement, while 6 ministries/central agencies and 3 localities were rated as having “average” disbursement. Notably, 5 ministries/central agencies and 4 localities were classified as having “poor” disbursement, with scores ranging from 57.4 to 31.68 points on a 100-point scale.
According to regulations, the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for public investment capital disbursement is automatically scored on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis via the Ministry of Finance’s information technology system. This data is also transmitted to the Government’s Executive and Management Information System. The annual score served as a criterion for evaluating the effectiveness of public investment and provides a foundation for ministries, central-level agencies, and localities to develop their own criteria for assessing and ranking the performance of collectives and individuals.
To accelerate the disbursement of public investment capital during the final months of the year, the Ministry of Finance is proactively implementing management measures to meet the capital requirements, aligned with the annual plan, of various ministries, sectors, and localities. Priority is given to strategic, inter-regional infrastructure projects with high disbursement potential and significant spillover effects.
The Ministry is also consolidating requests for adjustments to capital plans from ministries, sectors, and localities. It will then submit proposals to the competent authorities regarding the handling of unallocated capital, including the reallocation of funds to entities with actual capital needs.
Furthermore, the status of public investment capital disbursement across ministries, sectors, and localities will be publicly disclosed on a weekly and monthly basis via the Ministry of Finance’s web portal and through mass media. This transparency allows these entities to monitor the national disbursement progress and implement necessary measures to expedite, direct, and manage their respective projects.
