Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved the portfolio of a poverty reduction project in the central highlands region using loan from the World Bank (WB), the government said on its website. The project, to be carried out in the 2013-2018 period, is aimed to improve livelihoods and living conditions for poor households in the four provinces of Dak Nong, Dak Lak, Gia Lai and Kon Tum and the two central provinces of Quang Ngai and Quang Nam. The project will focus on improving infrastructure along with vocational training and job generation for local residents, developing sustainable agriculture and forestry production as well as ensuring food security and natural resource management. In March, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs announced the result of a national survey in 2011, which showed that 2.58 million households are poor and 1.53 million are near-poor. Of the total, the northwestern region has the highest rate of poor households with 33.02%, followed by the northeastern region with 21.01%, the central highlands, 18.62%. The southeastern region has the lowest rate of 1.7%. In Dec 2011, the WB approved a credit agreement worth $150 million for Vietnam’s poverty reduction support credit program 10 (PRSC 10), which has raised total WB funding to the 10 PRSC programs to $1.625 billion so far. Kicked off in Vietnam in 2002, PRSC is aimed to support Vietnam’s reforms in reducing poverty and enhancing coordination among ministries and government agencies. Poverty reduction in Vietnam remains a priority as new forms of poverty are emerging, experts said, urging the country to combine poverty eradication with disaster mitigation because they are closely linked. The government has planned to spend VND5.06 trillion ($240 million) on the national poverty reduction program this year with an aim to cut the poverty rate to 10% from 12% in 2011. (baodientu.chinhphu.vn Sept 18, Thoi Bao Kinh Te – Economic Times Sept 20 p3)
