Vietnam said that it spent an estimated VND864 trillion ($41.14 billion) on fighting against poverty during 2005-2012, according to the statistics released at an online government meeting on April 23. The programs over the years have benefited 531,000 poor households, reducing the poverty rate to 7.8% in 2013 from 22% in 2005. However, poverty alleviation has not been sustained, leaving a widening rich-poor gap, especially in the northern mountainous region and the Central Highlands provinces, government officials said at the event. It is believed that a large amount of the annual spending has gone to feed the administration system instead. “The agencies undertaking such programs are so cumbersome that they gobble up 63% of the allocated fund,” said Dang Huy Dong, deputy minister of Planning and Investment. Vietnam, which has a population of 90 million, has roughly three millions poor households. Local data showed that one in every three poor households has returned to poverty after suffering through natural disasters. The exact poverty rate remains a big question for local lawmakers as statistics from the government has often been suspiciously inaccurate. (Quan Doi Nhan Dan – People’s Army April 24 p4)
