Reasons for slow capital disbursement in sustainable poverty reduction program

On March 25, the Auditing Newspaper organized an online discussion: "Accelerating sustainable poverty reduction - The role of the State Audit".

At the seminar, Mr. Vu Van Tam, Head of Project Investment Department 1 (State Audit Department V) informed that the National Target Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction for the 2021-2025 period has a total minimum budget of VND 75,000 billion, but in the two years 2021-2022, only VND 9,526.1 billion was allocated, accounting for about 12.7% of the total budget.

Delegates at the seminar. Photo: Minh Thuy

Through audit, the average disbursement rate reached 38.6%; of which, investment capital reached 43.2%, career capital 29.9%. This is a quite low disbursement rate compared to other medium-term public investment programs.

There are two main reasons for this situation. Objectively, the Covid-19 pandemic has seriously affected the implementation progress, especially in the early stages of the program.

Subjectively, the allocation of capital from the central to local levels was delayed, with the 2022 capital allocation not being completed until May 2022. Meanwhile, the guiding documents from ministries and central agencies were issued late, most of which did not take effect until July 2022, and the content was unclear and not close to reality, causing confusion for localities.

Finally, projects and sub-projects under the Program are often small in scale, originating from grassroots needs, with a large list, but the process of preparation, appraisal and approval is constantly changing, prolonging the implementation time. These are the main "bottlenecks".

Sharing the same view, Mr. Pham Hong Dao, former Deputy Chief of the National Office for Poverty Reduction (former Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs) added that the approval of some projects is scattered, fragmented and delayed.

To promote the disbursement rate of the Program's capital, Mr. Vu Van Tam said that it is necessary to supplement and amend mechanisms and policies in a transparent and easy-to-implement direction. The good news is that the National Assembly issued Resolution No. 111/2024/QH15 dated January 18, 2024, allowing the implementation of specific mechanisms and policies for national target programs, from allocating capital from the central government to localities, decentralizing power to localities, and applying specific mechanisms for small-scale projects with uncomplicated techniques.

In addition, the Ministry of Finance allocates capital on time, usually in the first quarter of each year, so that localities can proactively manage their budgets.

Mr. Pham Hong Dao expressed his opinion on continuing to review projects; improving the capacity of grassroots officials, at the same time, strengthening supervision and evaluation to ensure proper and effective implementation, avoiding loss and waste.

Notable information at the seminar was the results of the assessment of the poverty rate according to the multidimensional poverty standard in 12 audited provinces in 2022, showing that only 10/12 provinces achieved a target higher than the general poverty reduction rate of the whole country; only 2 provinces, Khanh Hoa and Quang Nam, achieved a target lower than the general poverty reduction rate of the whole country (general rate from 1-1.5%/year). Poverty reduction is not really sustainable, the risk of re-poverty and poverty generation is still high.

Therefore, delegates all agreed that the State Audit can closely monitor the use of resources, detect errors, and propose timely adjustments to ensure the program is on track, achieves its goals, and is effective in the long term.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/nguyen-nhan-chuong-trinh-giam-ngheo-ben-vung-giai-ngan-von-cham-696870.html