More specifics required for public investment ambitions

A proposed boost to public investment has sparked some concern from the National Assembly’s Economic and Financial Committee, which requests additional transparency and cautious calculations

- By Thanh Thu

More than a week ago, the government last week reported to the National Assembly (NA) that total medium-term public investment from the state budget for the 2026-2030 period is projected at $328.8 billion, an increase of up to $214 billion compared to the 2021-2025 period. Of this, central budget capital is expected to reach $152 billion, and local budget capital is estimated at $176.8 billion.

The NA’s Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) considers that the government's proposed total public funding from the state coffers is significantly higher than in the previous period.

State budget revenues are projected to jump by 1.7-fold, with development investment expenditure accounting for approximately 40 per cent of the state budget, 1.3 times higher than in the 2021-2025 period. This is intended to support higher economic growth and to meet substantial funding needs for national target programmes and priority initiatives.

However, the EFC suggested that to meet the requirements for high growth, the medium-term public investment plan must be rigorously reviewed on the basis of effective mobilisation, allocation, and utilisation of capital, ensuring socioeconomic effectiveness, focused funding, and the maximisation of its catalytic role in leveraging non-state resources.

“Ensuring capital sources in the coming period will be highly challenging, as it will depend on multiple factors, particularly the need to sustain high economic growth throughout 2026-2030,” the EFC told the government at the NA hall a week ago.