Pledged ODA for Vietnam falls 8%

VietNamNet Bridge – At the last session of the CG Meeting this afternoon, December 5, international donors announced their pledges of ODA for Vietnam in 2009.

The total committed was US$5.014 billion, a reduction of 8% from last year.

The largest donor this year is the World Bank (WB) with a committed ODA level of $1.66 billion.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) made a surprise with $1.56 billion. The European Union (EU) pledged $893.48 million, including $280.96 million from France.

This year Japan didn’t pledge any ODA loan for Vietnam while last year it was the largest donor with $1.1 billion.

Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc said this is a high committed ODA number, especially as it doesn’t include a pledge from Japan.

According to Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Mitsuo Sakaba, early this year, the Japanese government announced its intention to extend Vietnam ODA loans up to the total of JPY65.3 billion (over $700 million) for the first half of the fiscal year 2008 for infrastructure projects to improve transport and sewerage systems.

“All the relevant procedures of those projects, however, have been suspended due to the PCI corruption case coming to light,” he stated.

At the CG Meeting 2007, donors committed the record high ODA for Vietnam of $5.426 billion, an increase of more than 20% over 2006. Of this total, bilateral assistance commitments accounted for over $2.6 billion, multilateral commitments over $2.55 billion and commitments by non-government organisations $250 million.

Speaking at CG Meeting 2008 yesterday, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung affirmed: “Vietnam honours every penny of the ODA and will fulfill its commitments to donors with a high sense of responsibility. The Vietnamese government will exert effort to further improve the effect of ODA use.”

Xuan Linh