Vietnam Develops Market-oriented Micro-finance

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Vietnam recently signed an agreement for a US$40 million loan to support the Government's policy reforms to improve the quality, accessibility, efficiency, and competitiveness of the country's microfinance sector under the Micro-finance Development Programme.

 

 The US$40 million policy based loan from the ADB’s Special Funds resources for Sub-programme 1 aims to ensure that poor people have access to sustainable financial services, especially in rural areas.

 

The Micro-finance Development Programme will seek to integrate micro-finance into the formal financial sector by nurturing emerging microfinance institutions to become formal financial institutions licensed by the State Bank of Vietnam, and at the same time, encouraging reform and restructuring of microfinance-involved state financial institutions – the Vietnam Bank for Social Polices and the Central People's Credit Fund. It also helps enhance operational and supervisory capacities of microfinance, and supports the development of financial infrastructure including a training institute, advocacy programmes, and a consumer protection scheme, as well as a credit information exchange system.