WB signs US$526m to Hanoi

WB signs US$526m to Hanoi

HANOI (Reuters): The World Bank on Thursday signed its largest-ever set of credit agreements with Vietnam, totaling US$526 million and aimed at restoring faster economic growth and poverty reduction.

The credits comprise a Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC) of $250 million; $110 million for a project for transportation and flood prevention in the Mekong Delta region, and $166 million for an environmental sanitation project in Ho Chi Minh City.

World Bank vice president Jamil Kassum, who signed the credit agreements with Vietnam's central bank governor Le Duc Thuy, said the credits brought the Bank's lending to Vietnam for the year to $629 million, the highest ever to the country in a single year.

"The PRSC is the largest credit we have ever made to Vietnam, and this package of three credits is by far the largest set we have signed at one time," he added in a speech.

Kassum said the PRSC was aimed at helping the government's plans to build a modern banking system, create an efficient enterprise system, open up to global markets and improve public- expenditure management.