Present at the signing ceremony in Hanoi on January 17 were State Bank of Vietnam’s Governor Nguyen Van Binh, and ADB Country Director for Vietnam Tomoyuki Kimura.

The ADB programme loan provides parallel financing to the Poverty Reduction Support Credit framework supported by a number of development partners. The Poverty Reduction Support Credits help Vietnam carry out a wide range of policy reforms in the areas of business development, social inclusion, natural resource management, and governance to ensure successful implementation of the 2011-2020 Socioeconomic Development Strategy, and the 2011-2015 Socioeconomic Development Plan.

“Poverty reduction cannot be sustained without inclusive economic growth,” said Kimura. “Further efforts should be made to accelerate reforms to strengthen institutional and human capacity, governance, and policies to address the development challenges and to promote economic growth.”

Vietnam's poverty rate declined significantly from 15.5 percent in 2006 to 9.5 percent in 2010 as a result of the country's rapid economic growth and improved social welfare programmes. However, selected groups remain vulnerable to poverty. The poverty incidence among ethnic minority groups remains very high at more than 50 percent in 2009.

“The root causes of macroeconomic stability can be addressed only by deepening the finance sector, imposing market discipline on state-owned enterprises, and improving the efficiency of public investments,” added Kimura. “The Government and people of Vietnam expect ADB to remain a reliable partner in their reform process for pursuit of economic growth and poverty reduction, and we are well positioned to rise to these expectations.”