Vietnam has set a target of bringing down the poverty rate to under 6% by the end of 2018 and to 4% in 2020, from 6.7% at the end of 2017, according to the information at a session of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on September 17. The figure is part of the government’s report on the implementation of the NA’s Resolution 76/2014/QH13 on promoting the target of sustainable poverty reduction to 2020. According to the report, the government has allocated VND21.6 trillion ($939.13 million) for poverty reduction in 2016-2018 from the state budget, equal to 52.1% of the total allocation for 2016-2020. In combination with the local budget and the private sector, the hit as much as VND134.4 trillion, helping reduce one million poor households. The poverty rate in poor districts has dropped by an average 5.43% per year, meeting the target set by the resolution. Poverty relapse has been controlled with a downward trend, as shown in the rates of 0.13% in 2016 and 0.1% in 2017. However, the reduction in poverty rate is not sustainable and still high, at 50% or even 60%-70% in some extremely poor localities. (BaoChinhPhu, baochinhphu.vn, vtv.vn, baotintuc.vn, vnexpress.net, en.vietnamplus.vn)
