Vietnamese Prime Minister has decided to allocate VND10.39 billion ($497,800) to help conduct a general survey on poor households in 23 centrally-run localities, the state-run Vietnam News Agency said late Mar 24. The beneficiaries will include the northern provinces of Cao Bang, Lang Son, Lao Cai, Thai Nguyen, Hoa Binh, Son La, Lai Chau, Dien Bien, Quang Ninh, Vinh Phuc, Bac Ninh, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh and Thai Binh; the central provinces of Thanh Hoa, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Ngai and Binh Thuan; as well as the southern provinces of Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Hau Giang and Soc Trang. The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) is rushing to finalize a database on poverty reduction serving for a national target program on poverty reduction for the 2011-2015 period, which is expected to facilitate making policies and monitoring poverty reduction in the country. In 2011, Vietnam will spend nearly VND1.81 trillion ($86.73 million) on a sustainable poverty reduction program.
The country targets to cut the poverty rate to between 4% and 5% by 2020, from the current rate of 9.45%, under the new poverty line took effect from Jan 1, 2011, under which Vietnam is forecast to have nearly 3.3 million poor families, accounting for 14.5%-15.5% of its total population. Households with an average monthly per capita income equal or less than VND400,000 in rural areas and VND 500,000 in urban areas are deemed poor, the national new poverty standards showed. (vietnamplus.vn Mar 24)
