The World Bank will give more than $4 billion (23 mia. d. kr.) in interest-free credits over the next five years to Vietnam, one of the largest recipients of aid, the Bank said on Tuesday.
The Bank would work to finance transmission lines, solar energy and power generation.
It would continue its work on education and helping government to have a system for health insurance, for social security that is common to a market economy.
Bank officials said poverty reduction would be more than 50 percent of the portfolio.
The Bank would now focus on the next generation of reforms to speed up Vietnam’s integration into the world economy and to improve governance, social protection, environmental management and infrastructure.
Picking up the pace of Vietnam’s banking and anti-corruption reforms, which have lagged behind other reforms, will be especially important.
The World Bank also cautioned that poverty is still widespread in rural Vietnam and among ethnic minorities and urban migrants.
The World Bank stressed that Vietnam, a country of 84 million people, stood out as an example of a development model that has lifted millions of people out of poverty.
The poverty rate had dropped from around 58 percent in 1993 to about 20 percent in 2004, and the country had already met some UN development goals ahead of target, including in education.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
