[Viet Nam] World Bank provides $100m for poverty fight

from The Viet Nam News Agency

WASHINGTON — The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved a US$100 million non-interest loan to support Viet Nam’s poverty reduction efforts.

This is the fifth Poverty Reduction Strategy Credit (PRSC5) provided to support the country’s poverty reduction and hunger elimination campaign. It is good for 40 years and has a grace period of 10 years.

The PRSC5 was developed and finalised by the Vietnamese Government, the World Bank and other multilateral and bilateral donors in Ha Noi in mid May of last year.

This project will support the implementation of Viet Nam’s reform agenda embodied in the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS). The reform agenda broadly rests on three pillars: the transition to a market economy; socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable development; and the creation of modern governance systems.

The credit will be used to help improve the regulatory framework for private sector development and enhance transparency and accountability in State-owned enterprise operations and in the banking sector. It will also support fundamental changes in the financial sector, designed to transform the State bank of Vietnam into a modern central bank and to strengthen the commercial orientation of State-owned commercial banks, and will develop capital markets.

It will also fund human development through upgrading the quality of education (particularly in poor zones), promoting inclusive education for children with disabilities, improving access for the poor to health services, and helping them secure asset ownership through the implementation of the new Land Law.

It will also be used to encourage important policy measures leading to more sustainable management of natural resources, including through strategic environmental assessments.

In addition, the credit will fund actions to implement the government’ s public financial management reform agenda and more effective public resource allocation. It will also support the overall development of the legal system strategy. — VNS