The Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs sets the
target for this year to increase the incomes of households in poverty by
160 percent over last year's levels,
Poor ethnic households and households in remote mountainous areas will receive assistance to raise their income by 250 percent.
The
average incomes of poor households in rural areas are currently 400,000
VND (19 USD) per person per month, while the incomes of poor households
in urban areas is 500,000 VND (23 USD) per person per month, according
to the ministry. Both figures represent increases of 120 percent over
the 2010 levels, meeting targets set by the National Assembly, the
ministry says.
By comparison, the average per-capita income nationwide is 1.3 million VND (62 USD) per person per month.
For
2009-11, the State budget allocated a total of 8.5 trillion VND (405
million USD) towards the poverty reduction programme implemented under
Resolution 30a issued in 2008. On average, each of the 62 poor provinces
has received 130 billion VND (6.2 million USD).
"The biggest
changes thanks to the fund were improvements in infrastructure," said
Ngo Truong Thi, head of the ministry's co-ordination office for the
poverty reduction programme. Over 2,000 construction projects were
carried out, including roads, bridges, medical stations and schools, and
more than 34,000 dilapidated homes were repaired.
With funding
from official development assistance and Government bonds, the
allocation to poor provinces over three years rose by another 22
trillion VND (over 1 billion USD) each, on average.
To meet this
year's targets, the ministry plans to increase State funding for the
poverty reduction programme as well as call on support from individuals
and enterprises, Thi said. Each district will receive up to 250 billion
VND (11.9 million USD), compared to about 200 billion VND (9.5 million
USD) last year.
Meanwhile, the Bank for Investment and
Development of Vietnam (BIDV) will sponsor seven poor districts, and
PetroVietnam, Vietcombank and VietinBank have all committed to sponsor
some poor districts.
Based on lessons in implementing the
proverty reduction programme in prior years, Thi said priority will be
given to the poorest areas first in order to ensure funds and manpower
are allocated wisely. Top priority will be given to northwest areas,
including Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Lao Cai, Ha Giang and Cao Bang provinces
"Despite
Vietnam's socio-economic development, we still have about 15 percent of
the population living under the poverty line," said Thi. "We will
therefore continue to encourage all of society to join hands with the
poverty reduction programme."
The national poverty rate fell from 14.2 percent in 2010 to 12 percent last year. /.
