Vietnam needs $3.9 bln for poverty reduction program

Of this amount, VND50 trillion would be sourced from the national budget, VND21.76 trillion from localities' budgets, and the rest from other sources, Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung said at a National Assembly session Tuesday.

He was proposing investments for the 2021-2025 national program for poverty-reduction and social security.

The program, which entails four main projects and 11 sub-projects, aims to reduce poverty, develop vocational education and social support systems, among other objectives.

The government hopes to cut the number of poor families by half in 2025 compared to 2021, and to lift 1.5 million people out of poverty each year.

The program also aims for the average income of families that participate in its projects to increase by 20-25 percent each year. It seeks to have 90 percent of poor families access the internet and other communications services.

Other goals include the reduction of unemployment rate to below 3 percent in 2025.

"The program aims to reduce poverty comprehensively and in multiple dimensions, meaning poverty-reduction for everyone and everywhere, while preventing them from falling back into poverty. It will support the poor by sustainably elevating them above the poverty line and helping them gain access to basic social services," said Dung.

While the current budget cannot satisfy the funds needed for such a program, the government would continue to balance its budget every year while mobilizing other funds, such as ODA, Dung said.

As of 2020, around 61 percent of all poor families in Vietnam belonged to ethnic minority communities. Around 81 districts and 167 communes across the country are yet to be lifted out of poverty, according to government data.

By January 2022, about 16 percent of families in Vietnam, 4.4 million families or 17.4 million people, will still be living below the poverty line, according to a multidimensional assessment made for the 2022-2025 period.

Poor people in Vietnam are defined as those earning less than VND1.5 million a month in rural areas, and VND2 million in urban areas.