Crossing the river by feeling the stones : Vietnam's experiment with block grant budgeting
By: BARTHOLOMEW, Ann
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Contributor(s): LISTER, Stephen | MOUNTFIELD, Edward | MINH, Nguyen Van.
Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: Philadelphia : Routledge, 2005International Journal of Public Administration - IJPA 28, 3-4, p. 337 - 354 Abstract: We are crossing the river by feeling the stones. attributed to Deng Xiaoping on economic reforms in ChinaAbstract: In December 1999, Vietnam's leaders granted Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) powers to pilot a remarkable budget management reform. This small-scale but radical experiment, launched in January 2000, has involved allowing the provincial finance department to approve and control budgets for 10 pilot spending units as block grants or lump sums. This review of the first two years of the HCMC block grants experiment suggests that such mechanisms may be useful in the developing country context. It also explores why Vietnam's decision to continue with pilots on a larger scale, rather than move immediately to full-scale rollout, may be an optimal reform implementation approach.
We are crossing the river by feeling the stones. attributed to Deng Xiaoping on economic reforms in China
In December 1999, Vietnam's leaders granted Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) powers to pilot a remarkable budget management reform. This small-scale but radical experiment, launched in January 2000, has involved allowing the provincial finance department to approve and control budgets for 10 pilot spending units as block grants or lump sums. This review of the first two years of the HCMC block grants experiment suggests that such mechanisms may be useful in the developing country context. It also explores why Vietnam's decision to continue with pilots on a larger scale, rather than move immediately to full-scale rollout, may be an optimal reform implementation approach.
Volume 28
Numbers 3-4
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