The central province of Phu Yen has started the national programme on poverty reduction in 2014, with a target of helping over 5,200 poor families escape poverty and reduce the poverty rate by 2.5 percent compared to 2013, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Online Newspaper reported.

To obtain the target, the province will focus on carrying out diverse solutions to help poor and nearly-poor families, including realising preferential policies; educational, medical, vocational training and housing support policies; poverty reduction projects; and the building of infrastructure in extremely disadvantaged communes.

For preferential credit programmes, the province is expecting to achieve an outstanding balance to 1.356 trillion VND (63.752 million USD), an increase of 18 percent compared to 2013, in order to support loans for production to 7,000 poor families, 7,500 nearly-poor families and 4,000 disadvantaged pupils and students.

Through capital loans, the province will give housing support to 900 poor families, and invest 19 billion VND to build essential infrastructure across 16 extremely disadvantaged coastal communes.

During the implementation of the Government’s project on rapid and sustainable poverty reduction in the two mountainous districts of Song Hinh and Dong Xuan, the province has poured 1.5 trillion VND into expanding 24 poverty reduction projects, with priority given to communes that are building new style rural areas; and provided medical insurance cards for 173,000 poor and nearly-poor people.

According to the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, as of late 2013, there were 31,415 poor families in the province, accounting for 13.3 percent. It will strive to reduce the poverty rate to below 9 percent by late 2015 and provide adequate housing for poor families.-VNA