WB Lends Vietnam $100M to Improve Govt Agencies Capacity

The State Bank of Vietnam July 15 signed an agreement with the World Bank on a $100 million loan for a project to help improve the capacity of Vietnamese government agencies in facilitating public investments. The project is slated for implementation between Oct 2010 and Oct 2015, giving supports to these agencies to make plans and prepare for public investments, the central bank said on its website July 15. SBV Governor Nguyen Van Giau said this has been the first preferential credit deal signed between Vietnam and the WB on such kind of the project, which also aimed to improve quality of inflow and shorten time of project preparation. Raising the speed and quality of project preparation will help facilitate project starts-up and disbursements, and bring socio-economic benefits to recipients, the WB Country Director for Vietnam Victoria Kwakwa noted. The loan will be sourced from the International Development Association (IDA), which is a part of the WB that helps the world’s poorest countries. Kofi Awanyo, leader of the WB Procurement Hub, earlier said Vietnam’s ODA disbursements have gone slowly over the years, which is partially attributed to the inconsistence between international and domestic procurement regulations. He noted that nearly $11.2 billion worth of ODA loans had not yet been disbursed by late 2008, doubling the 2004 figure. The WB lent Vietnam a total of $2.13 billion in the fiscal year ending June 30 this year.