Poverty Rate Remains High in Vietnam Mountainous Areas

Northwestern mountainous region remains the poorest part of Vietnam as more than half of households are rated “poor” and “near-poor”, far from the country’s average of 5%, state media reported, citing the Central Steering Committee for Sustainable Poverty Reduction. Northeast ranked second with 29%, followed by the Red River delta and southeastern region both below 10%. With an aim to quickly cut the poverty rate and improve livelihood, the National Assembly (NA), the country’s highest legislative body, has adopted two National Target Programs with the focus on sustainable poverty reduction and rural development for the 2016-2020 at a cost of VND240 trillion ($10.76 billion). The two programs, including sustainable poverty reduction costing VND46.16 trillion and rural development with VND193.15 trillion, will stress on lowering the rate of poor households to make the poverty rate averaged at 1% and 1.5% nationwide and on upgrading infrastructure and improving livelihood of people in rural areas in order to have 50% of communes meet new rural development standards by 2020. National Target Programs were launched with the aim of reducing poverty and improving livelihood and culture of people in remote areas in the implementation of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals that Vietnam has ratified. Vietnam spent an estimated VND323.98 trillion ($14.4 billion) for national target programs in 2011-2015, the report showed. According to Knight Frank’s Annual Wealth Report 2016, the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) – who own at least $30 million each – in Vietnam was 168 in 2015, rising 12 from a year earlier. But, local observers believed that the number of millionaires in Vietnam is much more than the surveys by foreign organization as the majority of rich people in the country are state officials or those backed by authorities in the country which corruption perception index remained low at 31 out of 100 scores for the past four years. (Vietnamplus.vn Mar 10)