The State Bank of Vietnam and the World Bank on April 24 signed an agreement to fund a combined of $390 million for poverty reduction projects in the Southeast Asian country, the bank said. This is within the $1.5-billion amount which the bank would fund the country’s poverty reduction programs in the next two to three years as pledged by Axel van Trotsenburg, vice president for World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific, at a working session with Vietnamese officials on March 30. The funding will include $150 million for the Central Highlands Poverty Reduction Project, $180 million for the Irrigated Agriculture Improvement Project, and $60 million for the Social Assistance System Strengthening Project. “These projects respond to different drivers of poverty in Vietnam including limited livelihood opportunities, remoteness and lack of connectivity, low productivity agriculture and fragmented and ineffective social assistance programs,” noted Victoria Kwakwa, Country Director for the World Bank in Vietnam. The first project would serve ethnic groups in 26 poorest districts of five provinces in the central and Central Highlands provinces by upgrading infrastructure and improving sustainable livelihoods. The second project will focus on enhancing water and land-use efficiency, agricultural productivity, and vulnerability to adverse climatic events for farmers and rural households in central coastal provinces. The third one is aimed at improving the social assistance system by laying the foundation for program consolidation and improving the effectiveness of public spending on social assistance. (www.worldbank.org [1] April 24)
