Vietnam Allocates 2% of State Budget to Science and Tech Development

During the government meeting on science and technology advancement, innovation, and digital transformation held on March 18, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang presented a talk regarding the distribution of the state budget and investment collaboration.

Minister Thang stated that the budget has thus far allocated 2 percent, amounting to VND51 trillion ($2.04 billion), for the development of science and technology. An additional 1 percent of standard spending for sci-tech development is being reallocated from different resources.

"If needing to supplement expenditure for sci-tech, innovation and digital transformation, relevant authorities should submit to the Ministry of Science and Technology and the MoF to immediately add to the budget plan," he said.

During the 2021–2025 period, the allocation of the state budget for science and technology development, innovation, and national digital transformation was consolidated from multiple sources. The overall expenditure for this area remains quite low. In particular, it attained 1.37 percent in 2021, 1.72 percent in 2022, 1.39 percent in 2023, 1.97 percent in 2024, and is projected to hit 2 percent in 2025.

"Currently, the two ministries are working to soon issue a guiding decree, expected in March, to remove all obstacles from the budget arrangement, estimates, allocation, disbursement, and settlement," Minister Thang said. "When the guiding decree is issued, the woes in spending on sci-tech will be completely removed."