World Bank OKs $200M Credit to 3rd Rural Finance Project in Vietnam

The World Bank (WB) has approved a credit worth $200 million for the third Rural Finance Project (RFP) in Vietnam, even though the second project has not yet been reviewed. It is a precedent which has never been applied for any WB-funded projects, a World Bank official said at a meeting on June 23 in Hanoi to review the implementation of the second RFP with the BIDV as the main server of the project. Under the second RFP, the WB funded about $235 million through 25 financial institutions to lend poor people in the rural areas of 60 cities and provinces across the country. The second project aimed to assist Vietnam in economic development, hunger elimination and poverty reduction in rural areas by strengthening banking capacity and improving the poor’s access to financial services. The project had sponsored over 440,000 loans, creating more than 250,000 jobs in 60 provinces through out Vietnam over the past six years.