Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved the negotiation result of the World Bank (WB)’s loan for the 10th Poverty Reduction Credit Support program (PRSC 10). Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam earlier was empowered to sign the loan agreement and other legal documents for the program with a WB representative. PRSC was introduced in Vietnam in 2002 to promote growth and poverty reduction through the use and improvement of policy and budget processes. The WB financed a total of $1.47 billion for nine programs of PRSC in the country as of late 2010. The WB implements PRSC in developing countries with stable macro-economies and reasonable financial management systems. Early in Nov, Vietnam proposed the Japanese Ministry of Finance to raise the credit for the 10th Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC 10) from JPY3.5 billion to JPY10 billion in the second phase of the 2011 fiscal year. Vietnam reports 3.05 million poor households and 1.61 million near-poor ones, accounting for 14.2% and 7.53% of its total 90-million population, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) said. (Thoi Bao Ngan Hang – Banking Times Dec 7 p2, baodientu.chinhphu.vn Dec 6)
