Vietnam Poverty Rate to Sharply Decline in Next Few Years: World Bank

Vietnam’s poverty rate is expected to decline sharply in the next few years thanks to positive economic signs, the World Bank said in a report on the country’s macro-economic situation released last week. The rate of people whose income below $3 per day would fall to 6.7% in 2017 from 12.3% in 2012. “The strengthening recovery combined with stable economic conditions is expected to help sustain positive poverty trends,” the report showed. Vietnam’s economy grew 6.81% in the third quarter of this year, up from 6.15% in the second quarter and 6.03% in the first quarter. The nine-month growth rate was 6.5% and projected to expand more than 6.5 % this year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment. “With ongoing positive growth trends, poverty has continued to decline,” said the report. The bank said that there were roughly 43 million people in Vietnam escaped from poverty between 1993 and 2008 but concerns over slow poverty reduction among ethnic minorities remain as ethnic groups make up more than half of the country’s poor while they are living in out-of-the-way places. (Dau Tu Oct 12 p4)