The World Bank (WB) provided a total of $9.83 billion in official development assistance (ODA) for 92 programs and projects in Vietnam by end-August, the State Bank of Vietnam said. Among those, 50 programs and projects with total investment of $6.4 billion, mostly funded by from Global Environment Facility (GEF), Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) and Trust Fund, are being underway in Vietnam. The bank provided $1.43 billion from International Development Association (IDA) and $700 million from International Bank for Restructure and Development (IBRD) for Vietnam in the fiscal year 2010 (7/2009-6/2010). The WB funding has mainly focused on the fields of public policy reform, power and energy, urban and environment sanitation, agriculture development, finance, banking, health and education. The WB trends to prioritize using its capitals for transport development, expressway, urban and state budget support in Vietnam as the government is paying more attention for these projects in recent years. It pledged $2.498 billion in ODA for Vietnam this year and also announced to finance over $6 billion for the country in the 2011-2013 fiscal years. The ODA is one of the key sources of dollars for the Southeast Asian country, after exports, foreign direct investment (FDI) and remittances. (www.sbv.gov.vn [1] Nov 17)
