The World Bank yesterday announced a plan to
provide Vietnam with more than US$3.8 billion in concessional financing over
the next three years.
Bank
president Jim Yong Kim announced this at a press conference in Hanoi yesterday
during an official visit.
"This
will help Vietnam continue to invest in improving the lives of the Vietnamese
people, including the extreme poor," Kim said.
The
World Bank chief was on a two-day visit to Vietnam, where he met Party General
Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, President Truong Tan Sang and Prime Minister Nguyen
Tan Dung.
Also
yesterday, the bank and Vietnam agreed to conduct a joint study to recommend
policy actions to increase economic growth in Vietnam.
The
study will look at changes Vietnam needs to boost trade and competitiveness and
improve the business and investment climate to attract more foreign and
domestic money.
Prime
Minister Dung said the study would support the country's strategy to improve people's
lives.
In
Hanoi, Dung witnessed Kim and Vietnam central bank governor Nguyen Van Binh
sign credit agreements for five new projects totalling $876 million.
Vietnam
has made remarkable progress in reducing poverty in recent years. The poverty
rate has dropped from almost 60 per cent in the 1990s to less than 10 per cent
today.
Growth
has averaged 6.4 per cent annually for the past decade, but began to slow
recently. The World Bank recently projected that Vietnam's GDP (gross domestic
product) growth in 2014 would be about 5.4 per cent.
"Vietnam
can return to higher rates of growth if it makes the bold reforms needed in the
financial sector and in State-owned enterprises with greater transparency and
accountability," Kim said.
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