Improving the effectiveness of official development assistance to foster socio-economic development of Vietnam

Abstract

Official Development Assistance (ODA), a source of external capital, plays a significant role in promoting socio-economic progress of developing countries, including Vietnam. Considering ODA as part of public investment, the Vietnamese Government has established and continuously improved the relevant institutions, including the ODA management, utilization and monitoring. This paper focuses on some major issues: (1) General assessment on attracting and using ODA, (2) ODA’s socio-economic effectiveness in recent years; (3) Some potential risks from borrowing ODA and foreign debts; (4) Some policy suggestions on improving the effectiveness of ODA in the coming years.