Vietnam’s poverty rate is likely to reach 20.7% this year if calculated to new standards as recommended by the World Bank (WB), state media reported. The figure is 2.2 times higher than that of 2010 which will be included in the Poverty Assessment 2012 that the WB and the Vietnamese General Statistics Office will release next months. Under the new standards, the poverty line is VND653,000/person/month, or $2.24/ person/day, with the purchasing power parity in 2005. The new poverty rate in Vietnam will be lower than in countries with average gross domestic product (GDP) like India and Indonesia, Deepak Mishra, chief economist of the WB in Vietnam, said. The poverty and social problems in Vietnam have occurred in recent months following the 2008-2009 global economic meltdowns. This is seen via joblessness, salary and working hour reductions due to the falling demand. Urban and rural households are also badly impacted as rising food prices and remittances have also declined, he added. The poverty reduction rate in Vietnam has also slowed down with emerging new risks, volatility on the global economy, increasing macro economic instability and slowing growth, Mishra added. Sharing the same viewpoint with WB, an UN representative said that new forms of poverty are emerging, urging the government to evaluate the poverty issue in a multi-dimensional manner, including health care, nutrition and education. Luc De Backer, a representative of the Belgian Embassy in Vietnam recommended that Vietnam should integrate poverty reduction in policies on agriculture development since the poverty mainly occurs among ethnic minorities and farmers. The Vietnamese government earlier pledged to increase its spending on poverty reduction and disaster mitigation next years in spite of economic woes. By March 2012, up to 2.58 million households were poor and 1.53 million deemed near-poor, showed a national survey by the Vietnam’s Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs. Currently, the poverty standard of Vietnam is less than VND500,000/person/month for urban people and below VND400,000 for rural ones. (thesaigontimes.vn June 17)
