World Bank signs biggest ever raft of credits for Vietnam
HANOI - The World Bank Thursday signed its biggest ever package of credits for Vietnam in what its vice-president
Jamil Kassum described as a vote of support for the communist authorities' market reforms.
The package, which was approved by the bank's governing body earlier this year, totals 526 million dollars,
with 250 million dollars of it targeted at supporting the government's reform strategy.
"The credits signed today bring total (World) Bank lending for the fiscal year to 629 million dollars, the highest
the bank has lent to Vietnam in any year," said Kassum.
"This is appropriate. Good investments and good policies call for strong support."
Kassum said the largest tranche of of the credits was aimed at supporting the government's plans to reform the
banking system, create an efficient enterprise sector, open up to world markets and improve the management
of public spending.
He said he expected the credits to be followed by further support in coming years as the government stepped
up its implementation of the reforms.
"Now that the government has a clearly articulated set of actions that are to be implemented over the coming
years, we will be willing to provide annual support in reponse."
Kassum said he was pleased that Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Swden had all pledged to offer
additional support and that other governments had expressed an interest in doing so.
"This is important substantively, because these donors bring both experience and grant funds.
"But it is also important in demonstrating the broad international support for the implementation phase of
Vietnam's reform agenda."
Kassum said it had taken "a long time" to put together the support package with the Vietnamese government
and it had "not always been easy."
"Future (credits) won't, we are sure, take as long to prepare as this one," he said.
The other two credits signed by the World Bank were a 110 million dollar project to protect key transport
links from seasonal flooding and a 166 million dollar scheme to improve sanitation and infrastructure in the
burgeoning commercial capital of Ho Chi Minh City.
"The Ho Chi Minh city project will improve the quality of life of 1.2 million residents. By making the city more
liveable, it will also make it more competitive," Kassum said.
The other project is aimed at improving Vietnam's main north-south highway and other key road links in the
Mekong Delta to lower road deaths and protect the highways from the seasonal flooding that regularly cuts
them off.
Agence France Presse - July 5, 2001.
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