Vietnam PM Approves WB-funded Social Assistance Project

The prime minister has approved a project on boosting social assistance system in Vietnam using loans from the International Development Association (IDA), an arm of the World Bank (WB). The project costing $62.5 million, include $60 million from IDA, is slated to be implemented in the next five years. The project focuses on enhancing the performance of social support and poverty reduction programs nationwide, piloting the social support programs using cash and providing the assistance for the project management. The scheme aims to propose a roadmap for unifying anti-poverty policies to raise the efficiency in sustainable poverty reduction and build a national database on social beneficiaries and poor households. So far, the global lender has provided up to $1.625 billion in aid for 10 poverty reduction support credit programs in Vietnam. (Thoi Bao Kinh Te – Economic Times Sept 20 p3, http://baodientu.chinhphu.vn Sept 19)