Vietnam, ADB signs poverty reduction deal

Vietnam, ADB signs poverty reduction deal

MANILA: Vietnam has signed a poverty reduction accord enabling
it to draw up to US$2.52 billion in soft loans from the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) over nine years, the bank said Wednesday.

Signed in Hanoi on Monday, the agreement commits the
government to reducing poverty to less than 19 percent of the
population by 2010 from the current level of 32 percent.

The Manila-based ADB plans to provide concessional, low-
interest loans worth between $220 million and $280 million per
year to finance projects that would be identified with the help
of ADB-funded studies, a bank statement said.

Market rate-based loans of up to $60 million annually will
also be made available, it added. -- Reuters