world bank vietnam
world bank vietnam
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Progress in the Last Decade
In the last decade, Vietnam
has greatly reduced the incidence of poverty – reflected both in rising per
capita expenditure and in widespread reports of improvements in broad well-being.
The proportion of people with per capita expenditures under the total poverty
line dropped dramatically from 58 percent in 1992/93 to 37 percent in 1997/98.
The number of people below a "food poverty line", which is lower,
declined from 25 percent to 15 percent, indicating that even the very poorest
segments of the population experienced improvements in their living standards
between 1993 and 1998. While poverty incidence is still quite high in Vietnam,
these declines over a period of only five years are very impressive. In recent
years, almost no other country has recorded such a sharp decline in poverty in
such a short period of time.
Declines in poverty levels in rural and urban
areas have been matched with improvements in access to education and in access
to infrastructure. Between 1993-1998, net primary school enrollment rates in
rural areas have gone up from 85 to 91 percent. For urban areas, the net primary
school enrollment rate has remained more or less unchanged at a high level of 96
percent. There has also been improved access to clean water supplies and
sanitation facilities in both urban and rural areas. The rural population is
less dependent now on river or lake water, with more people relying on water
from drilled wells. In urban areas, more than half the population have access to
piped water. Over 90 percent of the urban poor and nearly 60 percent of the
rural poor have access to electric lighting.
Current Challenges
While the progress achieved over the past decade
has been impressive by almost any standards, Vietnam
remains a very poor country whose huge development potential is as yet largely
untapped. While the share of the population in poverty has been cut in half over
the past decade, some 30 million people, or around 37 percent of the population,
are estimated to live in poverty. Currently, around 25 million people,
accounting for 60 percent of the labor force, are unemployed or underemployed.
And each year in the coming decade, over one million people will be added to the
workforce.
In the period 2001-2010 Vietnam
intends to build on the progress of the past decade to achieve the following
quality of life targets, among others:
- Eradication of hunger and hard-core poverty;
- Universalization of lower secondary education
for all;
- Malnutrition rate of children to be reduced
from a third to 15-20%;
- Life expectancy to increase from 68 to 70-71
years;
- Access to clean water in urban areas to rise
from 65% to 90%;
- Forest coverage to rise from 28% to 43%.
These are ambitious goals, but appropriate, and can
be attained through rapid growth and a change in the structure of the economy to
a more modern, industrial and urban one that can create better-paying jobs.
The Government and the international community are
agreed on the importance of the six key development 'pillars' that will need to
be built if the goals to be reached. These are:
- Creating a Supportive Climate for Enterprise
- Transforming the Rural Economy
- Enhancing Human Capacity
- Providing Efficient Infrastructure Services
- Improving Environmental Quality
- Building Modern Governance
World Bank Assistance to Vietnam
The 'pillars' of development are at the core of the
World Bank's work in Vietnam
and underpin all we do, in coordination with the Government and other partners,
in the fight against poverty . The Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) 1999-2002,
developed in partnership with the Government and in consultation with civil
society, the private sector and the donor community, is the current framework
for fulfilling these goals. It lays out the World Bank program which consists of
lending, advisory, and knowledge services.
The priorities set out in the Ten-Year
Socio-economic Strategy (2001-2010) for Vietnam
and the work on developing a Comprehensive Poverty Reduction Strategy for Vietnam
will guide the priorities in the next CAS for Vietnam
for 2003-2005. The new CAS will continue to build on the partnership approach
which has been evolving in Vietnam
over the last years between the Government and the donor community, and which
has brought together a broad coalition of partners in attacking poverty
Currently, the World Bank provides primarily two
types of assistance to Vietnam:
(1) the design and financing of development projects,
and
(2) analytical work, policy advice, and technical
assistance.
IDA credits are the primary source for financing
development projects in Vietnam
– all the credits support projects and programs focused on the key pillars of
development. In 2001, IDA Loan commitments in Vietnam
total US$629m (including a Poverty Reduction Support Credit), and there are
currently 22 active IDA projects. Including six projects that have already
closed, and three which have yet to come on stream, to date the World Bank has
committed US$3.2bn to Vietnam
to date. In addition, co-financing and trust funds provide important mechanisms
to advance and implement the strategic agenda shared by the World Bank, the
Government and development partners. These funds are the primary source for
analytical work, policy advice and technical assistance focused on poverty
reduction.
For more information, please contact:
In Hanoi: Andrew Steer, Country Director, or Hoang
Thanh Ha, Phone: (84-4) 934-6600;
Fax: (84-4) 934-6597
In Washington, D.C.: Koichi Hasegawa or Hera
Sutrisna, Phone: (1-202) 458-7847; Fax: (1-202) 522-1556
The Washington External Affairs Office
Jill Wilkins / Kimberly Versak
Tel: 202-473-1792 / 202-473-4919
Fax: 202-522-3405
Email:
jwilkins@worldbank.org / kversak@worldbank.org
The World Bank Vietnam
web site: http://www.worldbank.org.vn/
has a wide range of up to date information on both the World Bank's activities
in Vietnam and
those of the wider development community. Recent World Bank Vietnam
documents are available in downloadable format.
The Vietnam
Development Information Centre (VDIC), Ground Floor, 63 Ly Thai To, Hanoi,
stocks a wide range of development literature on Vietnam.
Website: http://www.vdic.org.vn/.
Progress in the Last Decade
In the last decade, Vietnam
has greatly reduced the incidence of poverty – reflected both in rising per
capita expenditure and in widespread reports of improvements in broad well-being.
The proportion of people with per capita expenditures under the total poverty
line dropped dramatically from 58 percent in 1992/93 to 37 percent in 1997/98.
The number of people below a "food poverty line", which is lower,
declined from 25 percent to 15 percent, indicating that even the very poorest
segments of the population experienced improvements in their living standards
between 1993 and 1998. While poverty incidence is still quite high in Vietnam,
these declines over a period of only five years are very impressive. In recent
years, almost no other country has recorded such a sharp decline in poverty in
such a short period of time.
Declines in poverty levels in rural and urban
areas have been matched with improvements in access to education and in access
to infrastructure. Between 1993-1998, net primary school enrollment rates in
rural areas have gone up from 85 to 91 percent. For urban areas, the net primary
school enrollment rate has remained more or less unchanged at a high level of 96
percent. There has also been improved access to clean water supplies and
sanitation facilities in both urban and rural areas. The rural population is
less dependent now on river or lake water, with more people relying on water
from drilled wells. In urban areas, more than half the population have access to
piped water. Over 90 percent of the urban poor and nearly 60 percent of the
rural poor have access to electric lighting.
Current Challenges
While the progress achieved over the past decade
has been impressive by almost any standards, Vietnam
remains a very poor country whose huge development potential is as yet largely
untapped. While the share of the population in poverty has been cut in half over
the past decade, some 30 million people, or around 37 percent of the population,
are estimated to live in poverty. Currently, around 25 million people,
accounting for 60 percent of the labor force, are unemployed or underemployed.
And each year in the coming decade, over one million people will be added to the
workforce.
In the period 2001-2010 Vietnam
intends to build on the progress of the past decade to achieve the following
quality of life targets, among others:
- Eradication of hunger and hard-core poverty;
- Universalization of lower secondary education
for all;
- Malnutrition rate of children to be reduced
from a third to 15-20%;
- Life expectancy to increase from 68 to 70-71
years;
- Access to clean water in urban areas to rise
from 65% to 90%;
- Forest coverage to rise from 28% to 43%.
These are ambitious goals, but appropriate, and can
be attained through rapid growth and a change in the structure of the economy to
a more modern, industrial and urban one that can create better-paying jobs.
The Government and the international community are
agreed on the importance of the six key development 'pillars' that will need to
be built if the goals to be reached. These are:
- Creating a Supportive Climate for Enterprise
- Transforming the Rural Economy
- Enhancing Human Capacity
- Providing Efficient Infrastructure Services
- Improving Environmental Quality
- Building Modern Governance
World Bank Assistance to Vietnam
The 'pillars' of development are at the core of the
World Bank's work in Vietnam
and underpin all we do, in coordination with the Government and other partners,
in the fight against poverty . The Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) 1999-2002,
developed in partnership with the Government and in consultation with civil
society, the private sector and the donor community, is the current framework
for fulfilling these goals. It lays out the World Bank program which consists of
lending, advisory, and knowledge services.
The priorities set out in the Ten-Year
Socio-economic Strategy (2001-2010) for Vietnam
and the work on developing a Comprehensive Poverty Reduction Strategy for Vietnam
will guide the priorities in the next CAS for Vietnam
for 2003-2005. The new CAS will continue to build on the partnership approach
which has been evolving in Vietnam
over the last years between the Government and the donor community, and which
has brought together a broad coalition of partners in attacking poverty
Currently, the World Bank provides primarily two
types of assistance to Vietnam:
(1) the design and financing of development projects,
and
(2) analytical work, policy advice, and technical
assistance.
IDA credits are the primary source for financing
development projects in Vietnam
– all the credits support projects and programs focused on the key pillars of
development. In 2001, IDA Loan commitments in Vietnam
total US$629m (including a Poverty Reduction Support Credit), and there are
currently 22 active IDA projects. Including six projects that have already
closed, and three which have yet to come on stream, to date the World Bank has
committed US$3.2bn to Vietnam
to date. In addition, co-financing and trust funds provide important mechanisms
to advance and implement the strategic agenda shared by the World Bank, the
Government and development partners. These funds are the primary source for
analytical work, policy advice and technical assistance focused on poverty
reduction.
For more information, please contact:
In Hanoi: Andrew Steer, Country Director, or Hoang
Thanh Ha, Phone: (84-4) 934-6600;
Fax: (84-4) 934-6597
In Washington, D.C.: Koichi Hasegawa or Hera
Sutrisna, Phone: (1-202) 458-7847; Fax: (1-202) 522-1556
The Washington External Affairs Office
Jill Wilkins / Kimberly Versak
Tel: 202-473-1792 / 202-473-4919
Fax: 202-522-3405
Email:
jwilkins@worldbank.org / kversak@worldbank.org
The World Bank Vietnam
web site: http://www.worldbank.org.vn/
has a wide range of up to date information on both the World Bank's activities
in Vietnam and
those of the wider development community. Recent World Bank Vietnam
documents are available in downloadable format.
The Vietnam
Development Information Centre (VDIC), Ground Floor, 63 Ly Thai To, Hanoi,
stocks a wide range of development literature on Vietnam.
Website: http://www.vdic.org.vn/.