Donors Plans to Stop Providing ODA for Vietnam, Challenges Faced

Many countries and organizations have planned to stop providing official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam, imposing challenges for Vietnam to seek other funds for its development, state media reported, citing a Vietnamese ministry. The UK is to stop sending ODA to Vietnam from 2016 as the Southeast Asian has become a middle-income nation after providing $715.83 million ODA for Vietnam over the past 20 years, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment. In May, Belgium announced stopping the provision of non-refund aid for Vietnam while Denmark has no commitment to providing ODA for Vietnam in the 2016-2020 period, the ministry was quoted by Bao Hai Quan online newspaper as saying. Norway has lowered its development assistance for Vietnam while strengthening cooperation on investment and trade with Vietnam. Poland’s aid for Vietnam will be cut to EUR4.5 million in 2016 while Switzerland is planning to reduce its aid for Vietnam in the near future. Spain stopped providing ODA for Vietnam late 2013. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB), two biggest ODA providers for Vietnam, are considering cutting the development aid for Vietnam in next one or two years. The development aid is one of the key sources of dollars for Vietnam after exports, foreign direct investment (FDI) and remittances. Experts, however, advise Vietnam to reduce the use of ODA to avoid a debt burden in the future. International donors pledged to provide Vietnam with nearly $80 billion in development aid, of which 65% has been disbursed, according to the ministry. (baohaiquan.vn Dec 23)