The national target programme on sustainable poverty reduction for 2016-20 aims to see an average drop of 1.5 percent in the number of impoverished households each year and 4 percent annually in impoverished localities.

The general goals of the programme are to speed up poverty reduction, minimising poverty relapse and create favourable conditions for the poor to access basic social services.

According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the programme is estimated to cost nearly 43 trillion VND (1.97 billion USD).

The investment will be allocated to six component projects, including those to support infrastructure building in impoverished coastal, island and border localities; assist production; diversify livelihoods; and increase communications and capacity in implementing the programme.

In a meeting on June 3 with the Standing Committee of the National Steering Committee for Sustainable Poverty Reduction to discuss investment plan for the programme, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh, who is also Head of the committee, asked the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment to ensure adequate investment for the programme.

The ministries should not cut capital for the programme when integrating it with other national target programmes and rather give it the highest priority, especially in localities with high rates of poor households, he directed.

Meanwhile, ministries and localities should increase investment in boosting production, which he described as a foundation for sustainable poverty reduction.

Ministries should also expand loan provisions for the poor and broaden the list of beneficiaries, urged the Deputy PM, noting that bad debt involving poor households are only 0.4 percent.

He also mentioned a new approach to multidimensional poverty standards, which are needed to define adequate investments for infrastructure and production in poor areas.-VNA