The State Treasury regularly reviews and improves expenditure control and automated payment processes.

Implementing various reforms in expenditure control

With the determination to avoid the situation of ‘locked purse’, the Prime Minister established 5 working groups right at the beginning of the year to enhance and promote the disbursement of public investment capital. In May 2023, the Prime Minister requested 25 members of the Government to oversee and promote the disbursement of public funds and business & manufacture. Simultaneously, the Prime Minister issued Directive No. 08/CT-TTg on key tasks and solutions to boost the allocation and disbursement of public investment, 3 national target programs in 2023, and the implementation of economic and social recovery and development programs.

With the urgency of these directives, the obstacles that affected the disbursement progress were recognized by local authorities, who focused on resolving them as soon as new projects were initiated.

As the agency responsible for monitoring and disbursing investment fund, the State Treasury has implemented numerous synchronized and effective solutions to expedite the disbursement progress in coordination with ministries, sectors, and localities.

Mr. Tran Quan- General Director of the State Treasury, stated that at the beginning of 2023, the State Treasury issued Directive No. 589/CT-KBNN to enhance expenditure control operations, improve the quality of customer service in transactions within the State Treasury system. In the Directive, the State Treasury required the entire system to enhance the sense of responsibility in monitoring expenditure from the state budget. It timely identified and resolved issues arising during the implementation of investment disbursement within the proper authority; provided guidance and timely assistance to investors when issues arose.

To expedite the disbursement process, the State Treasury has regularly reviewed and improved processes related to expenditure control, automated payment processes, and interconnected applications to shorten payment times, facilitating transactions while ensuring compliance with regulations.

The General Director of the State Treasury noted that the State Treasury is one of the first units in the Financial sector to complete 100% administrative procedures via the online public service portal at level 4. "With the widespread implementation of online public service portal nationwide from 2018 to now, the capital payment processes have been greatly simplified and shortened. Specifically, the time frame for investment payment has been reduced from 7 days to 3 days; 1 working day for ‘payment first, control later’. Therefore, “investment capital payment invoices are handled promptly, and public investment funds are timely disbursed for projects," emphasized Mr. Trần Quân.

Act proactively to disburse public investment

According to Mr. Trần Quân, the local State Treasury units, besides proactively advising committees and local authorities on appropriate solutions according to local realities, have been diligently implementing measures to expedite the disbursement process.

For instance, in Ninh Thuận, the local State Treasury unit has strived to shorten the time for receiving and processing documents according to the principle of “payment first, control later”. This approach ensures the receipt and processing of documents within 1 working day for advances and payment in installments.

Particularly, to minimize errors leading to payment refusal, and to ensure that investors avoid repeatedly revise their submissions, the Ninh Thuận State Treasury has identified recurring mistakes for investors to take note of, carefully inspect and collate information from accounting documents to the applications. The investors should make sure that payment information comply with regulations to be accepted, controlled, and paid by the Treasury promptly from the first time.

Quảng Nam, a province with a disbursement rate lower than the national average, reached just over 27% of the assigned plan by the end of July. To expedite the disbursement progress, apart from resolutely implementing administrative procedure reforms that ensure simplicity, clarity, and transparency in documentation and monitoring procedure, the Quảng Nam State Treasury has integrated the expenditure control process with electronic transaction processes on the online public service portal.

Especially, the Quảng Nam State Treasury has required its expenditure control division and district/city-level State Treasuries to promptly update the capital investment plans assigned for 2023 and the extended capital plans to proactively coordinate with investors to ensure timely disbursement in accordance with project schedules. Additionally, the Treasury frequently follows regulations of central and local authorities, implementing control over investment capital payments as prescribed.

Similar to Quảng Nam, Khánh Hòa is another locality with a low disbursement rate. Therefore, with a determination to achieve 100% disbursement rate for the province, the Khánh Hòa State Treasury continues to coordinate with departments, boards, and sectors to ensure uniform implementation, preparation of payment documents, and public investment disbursement. They also strengthen their role in payment control; carry out effective reporting system to multiple-level authorities to quickly manage the state budget./.