Authorities in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi have announced its new poverty line for the 2011-2015 period, under which it will be VND750,000/person/month in urban area and VND550,000/person/month in rural area. A rural person, who earns VND551,000-VND750,000 per month, will be considered a near-poor one while an urban resident will be deemed near-poor if having monthly income of VND751,000-VND1 million. Under the new poverty standard, Hanoi is forecast to have 114,636 poor households this year, accounting for 9.6% of its total population, compared to 4.48% currently. Hanoi’s Fund for the Poor targets to mobilize VND50 billion ($2.56 million) from organizations and individuals to help the poor in 2011, said Dang Viet Quan, chairman of the Hanoi Fatherland Front. Quan, however, added that Hanoi is estimated to need VND100 trillion yearly to cut the poverty rate by 1.4%-1.8% a year. The capital city will spend VND5 trillion ($256.41 million) from the municipal budget to support the poor and near-poor people from now up to 2015 with the aim to cut the poverty rate to 2% by 2015. (Tien Phong Jan 12 p2)
