Vietnam Targets to Cut Poverty Rate to 12 per cent in 2009
Vietnam has set a target to slash the rate of poor households to 12 per cent this year, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told a conference held in Haiphong City Jan 5.
Last year, the country’s poverty rate is 13.1 per cent, down 1.66 per cent on year but remained higher than the goal of 12 per cent set by the government due to shocks from global economic downturn such as domestic price turbulence, epidemics and natural disasters.
So far, 1.3 million people have received regular allowance, the ministry said, adding that the government provides emergency aid to nearly one million people and families to help them stabilize their life and access basic social services a year.
Currently, 1.25 million people each year are being provided social allowances worth VND2.035 trillion (US$123.3 million) in total.
Communist Vietnam has set the GDP growth rate of 6.5 per cent this year.
Vietnam has a population of more than 86 million with GDP per capita income of over US$1,000, state media said. (Saigon Liberation, VOV)
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