Vietnam Cuts Poverty Rate to 13.08 per cent
Vietnam has so far slashed its poverty rate to 13.08 per cent, down from 14.2 per cent in 2007, the Saigon Liberation newspaper said, citing the statistics from the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).
The poverty rate cut is thanks to sustainable GDP growth of more than 7 per cent since 2000, however, the gap between the rich and the poor is keeping widening, social activists said.
Vietnam has to date provided soft loans to 500,000 poor families to escape the poverty trap, granted health insurance policies to 14 million poor people, and reduced or even exempted school tuition fees for 2.5 million poor students.
The Asean country will spend VND22.47 trillion (US$1.35 billion) from its state budget to develop infrastructure projects to support the poor, particularly ethnic minorities groups in the 2009-2015 period, state media said.
On the sidelines of the Asia Microfinance Forum 2008 held in Hanoi, Director of the Corporate Citizenship of CITI group, Pamela Flaherty, Aug 27 hailed Vietnam’s achievement in poverty reduction. (Saigon Liberation, VNA)
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