World Bank Pledges $1.5B for Vietnam Poverty Reduction Programs

The World Bank (WB) has pledged to fund $1.5 billion for Vietnam to better conduct its hunger eradication and poverty reduction programs in the next two to three years, state media reported. The financial support would be made through loans for agriculture, infrastructure, healthcare, education, and other basic services provided by the WB’s International Development Association (IDA), Axel van Trotsenburg, vice president for World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific, said at a working session on March 30 with Vietnamese officials.
Vietnam spends an estimated VND120 trillion ($5.7 billion) on hunger eradication and poverty reduction per year as showed by statistics from the Ministry of Labor, Invalid and Social Affairs (MOLISA). Vietnam has roughly three millions poor households. Local data showed that one in every three poor households has returned to poverty after suffering through natural disasters.
The exact poverty rate remains a big question for local lawmakers as statistics from the government has often been suspiciously inaccurate. (Infonet.vn March 31)