Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) to assist with housing gaps and generate jobs for welfare beneficiaries and households living at or below the poverty line.

While visiting VBSP officials on the occasion of the lunar New Year (Tet) on February 24, the Government leader directed the Ministry of Finance and the SBV to increase loans for the VBSP to organise online credit transactions for the underprivileged to develop production, build houses, and escape poverty in a sustainable manner.

The Prime Minister suggested the SBV allow the VBSP to increase loans for households and small- and medium-sized enterprises to expand manufacturing activities.

He spoke highly of the VBSP’s contributions to implementing the national target of sustainable poverty alleviation.

The crucial goal of the bank is to focus State financial resources on improving the living standards of poor households, increasing human resources training, and building new-style rural areas, he added.

After 12 years of operation, the VBSP has mobilised over 129.4 trillion VND (8.08 billion USD) for lending. More than 25.5 million impoverished households and welfare beneficiaries had access to the bank’s loans valued at 285 trillion VND (13.4 billion USD).

The credit availability has helped over 3.6 million households rise out of poverty; created jobs for over 11 million labourers; supported 3.3 million students to pursue their education; built over 6 million clean water supply facilities and hygiene toilets in rural areas; and constructed nearly 700 flood-proof houses in central provinces and 102,000 in the Mekong Delta and Central Highlands, and 482 houses for needy families nationwide.-VNA