Social credit programmes help ethnic minorities escape from poverty
Social credit programmes have helped ethnic minorities in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh escape poverty in recent years.
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| The Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) is expected to poor households in Tra Vinh with clean water and environmental hygiene, especially in rural areas. |
A total of 825 ethnic minority households were provided loans of VND12.5 billion (US$546,475), accounting for 76 percent of borrowers.
Tra Vinh is home to the Kinh, Khmer and Hoa ethnic groups. It has a population of 1.1 million with 274,425 households, including 88,289 Khmer households (over 32 percent).
Total loans from credit programmes were estimated at nearly VND2.2 trillion as of June 30, a year-on-year rise of 5.52 percent, fulfilling 94 percent of the annual target.
Some 126,865 poor and nearly-poor households and social policy beneficiaries were provided with average loans of VND17 million each.
Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Dong Van Lam proposed the VBSP arrange more loans in the remaining months of the year for households living under the poverty line and support them with clean water and environmental hygiene, especially in rural areas.
In response, a bank representative said the VBSP allocated an additional VND40 billion (US$1.7 million) for Tra Vinh to provide loans for needy households.
