National target programmes disburse only 11.1% of 2026 plan

The national target programmes for 2026 - 2030 disbursed 3,385 trillion VND (130 million USD) by October 31, just 11.1% of the 2026 estimate, the Ministry of Finance said in a report.

Public investment capital disbursement hit 11.3% of plan while recurrent expenditure reached 10.3% of estimates.

The central budget alone disbursed 1,685.93 quadrillion VND, or 7.6% of plan, well short of what this year’s agenda rollout requires.

For 2025, capital allowed to carry over into 2026: total state budget disbursement surpassed 10,134 trillion VND, or 43.3% of plan. Public investment capital hit 49.2%, while recurrent expenditure reached 39%.

The ministry wants to tighten monitoring of all programmes and push allocation and disbursement, clear bottlenecks promptly or escalate issues beyond the other ministries' authority. Agencies and localities with weak disbursement must face inspection, pressure and correction.

Ministries, centrally-run agencies and localities must urgently finish allocating and assigning 2026 recurrent expenditure estimates and the public investment capital plan. They must also approve tasks and projects early and close procedures to speed up disbursement.

They also need to review all capital plans and carryover estimates from 2025 to 2026 and concentrate resources on tasks and projects that can be completed and disbursed.

The ministry is targeting 100% disbursement of the 2026 capital plan and carryover capital. Any extended capital not fully disbursed by December 31, 2026 must be cancelled, recovered and returned to the central budget under the State Budget Law.

Localities should line up counterpart funds and integrate lawful funding sources, prioritise essential work, and direct support for residents. Execution must hit the right goals and beneficiaries, stay transparent and efficient, and avoid losses, wastefulness and scattered investment.

For 2026-2030, the central budget has allocated 254,027 trillion VND of public investment capital to the programmes. The Prime Minister has assigned 79,827 trillion VND so far, while relevant ministries are finalising plans for the remainder.

For 2026 alone, central budget capital for the programmes totals 35 trillion VND. The Prime Minister has assigned more than 22,176 trillion VND. As of October 31, ministries, agencies and localities allocated over 18,391 trillion VND.

The ministry blamed slow allocation and disbursement on multiple factors. Some ministries proposed 2026 allocation plans late, forcing central budget capital to be assigned in several batches, mostly from June to September, cutting rollout time.

Some localities were slow to issue allocation principles, criteria, norms and counterpart-fund ratios under their authority. With 2025 carryover capital, localities are struggling to adjust funding to match new programme content. Other hurdles include identifying beneficiaries, material price swings, land procedures, compensation, site clearance and weather.

Ministries, agencies, and localities must prepare early for 2027, build task and project lists, complete approvals and capital allocation plans, focusing on urgent tasks that directly impact residents.

Beyond disbursement speed, the ministry wants ministries, agencies and localities to assess the responsibility of units and heads against disbursement rates, output results, rollout efficiency and improvements in living standards./.