Vietnam will gradually reduce its dependence on official development assistance (ODA) funds in the 2010-2015 period and fully tap domestic resources instead to mobilize sufficient capital for local development, according to Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc.
He said that Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and other regional countries had done the same as their economies became better developed.
During a recent interview with the local Thoi Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon weekly magazine, the minister admitted that Vietnam is now still attaching great importance to using ODA funds for national development but this situation will change from 2010, especially after 2015 when such sources are set to fall sharply worldwide.
“We should recognize this trend and make our best efforts to take advantage of the current available ODA funds to fuel the local capital-thirsty economy,” Phuc said.
According to the senior financial official, Vietnam will need more than US$140 billion in investment for its 2006-2010 socio-economic development plan, of which 65 per cent is expected to be raised from domestic resources and the remaining from foreign direct investment (FDI) and ODA loans.
Vietnam expects to draw in US$14-15 billion in ODA in the next five years, he said. Of the credits, about US$2.2 billion will be spent on agriculture, irrigation projects, fisheries, rural development and hunger elimination and poverty alleviation activities, US$1.9 billion will go to energy and other industries, US$3.6-4.1 billion to transport and telecommunication projects, and about US$4.3 billion to medical care, education and training, the environment, and science and technology.
In the last five years, ODA accounted for 11 per cent of total investment capital in Vietnam.
Vietnam is one of the world’s biggest ODA country recipients. Between 2001-2004, over US$11 billion was pledged to support Vietnam, of which US$7.84 billion was disbursed.
Saigon Economic Times, VNA
April 24–25, 2026
Kinh Bac Cultural Center, Bac Ninh Province
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