The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said on its website that it and the World Bank signed a loan agreement worth of $688 million for five projects on power, poverty reduction, healthcare, environmental sanitation and rural water supply in Vietnam May 25. Of the total, $318 million will be poured into a project to reform Vietnam’s power sector via developing a competitive power market, restructuring of the power sector, attracting more investment in the industry and improving the efficiency of energy usage. The other loan worth $150 million is for a poverty reduction project in Vietnam’s northern provinces of Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Son La, Hoa Binh, Dien Bien and Lai Chau. Another loans valued at $155 million will be funded two projects on environmental sanitation in Ho Chi Minh City and on clean water supply for rural areas in the Red River Delta region. The remaining $65 million will be used to fund a project to increase health insurance coverage among the poor, upgrade 30 district hospitals and improve capabilities of medical workers in the central northern region. This year, the WB pledged $2.498 billion in official development assistance for Vietnam.
