WB Helps Vietnam Reform Economic Management

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and the World Bank (WB) recently signed three credit agreements, worth a total of US$400 million, to help Vietnam with economic management reforms for higher productivity and competitiveness, to support the implementation of the Higher Education Reform Agenda, and to raise school readiness for 5-year old children.

 

The first Economic Management and Competitiveness Credit for Vietnam (EMCC 1), the first of a series of three operations, provides US$250 million concessional financing to support reforms in seven policy areas, namely financial sector; fiscal policy; public administration and accountability; state enterprise management; public investment management; efficiency of the business environment; and equity and transparency of the business environment.

 

The second credit worth US$50 million for the Higher Education Development Policy Operation 3 supports the implementation of the Government’s higher education reform programme with policies designed to strengthen governance, financing and quality of higher education.

 

The third project, the School Readiness Promotion Project (SRPP) aims to raise school readiness for children entering primary education, in particular for those most vulnerable to not succeeding in a school environment. It will support selected elements of Vietnam's national programme on “Universal Early Childhood Education for 5 year old Children 2010-2015 (Decision 239) with a financing envelope of US$100 million.

 

All three credits come from the International Development Association, the World Bank Group’s concessional lending window for low income countries.