The southern province of Dong Nai has since 2005 mobilised 1.8 trillion VND (85.71 million USD) for poverty reduction, according to the provincial Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs.

The money has been used to provide preferential credits, promote agricultural production, provide vocational training and improve households-based production capacity for disadvantaged people.

During the 2005-2012 period, 11,000 underprivileged households in the province escaped from poverty annually on average. In 2013, the number of poor families reduced by 7,400.

Lam Duy Tin, Deputy Director of the department, said the province will help the disadvantaged households develop production with loans and vocational training so that they can escape from poverty in a sustainable manner.

The province is applying a poverty line standard of under 850,000 VND per month for urban people and under 650,000 VND per month for rural people. The standard will increase in the 2015-2020 period.

Dong Nai targets to develop a rapid and sustainable economic growth, promote international integration, industrialisation and modernization, improve people’s livelihoods, ensure social security and strive to become an industrial province by 2015.

It will strive to post a GDP growth of 13-14 percent per year and the average GDP per capita by 2015 will be from 2,900-3,000 USD.-VNA