KfW may up Vietnam development fund

KfW, the German Development Bank, has targeted a loan commitment of 500 million EUR (692 million USD) per year for development projects in Viet Nam, up from 200-300 million EUR per year over the last two years, an official from KfW has said.
KfW, the German Development Bank, has targeted a loan commitment of 500 million EUR (692 million USD) per year for development projects in Viet Nam, up from 200-300 million EUR per year over the last two years, an official from KfW has said.

"It has not been done yet, but our target depends on the criteria to be met by Vietnam," Dr Ulrich Schroder, CEO of KfW, a state-owned German bank, told Vietnam News during his visit to the city this week.

“We see a huge potential for Germany and other European countries to invest in Vietnam," he said.

However, to have more access to financial assistance like Official Development Assistance (ODA), Vietnam needs to simplify administrative procedures, fight corruption and improve its secondary school and higher education system, he said.

In addition, he noted that the energy and health sectors remain dominated by the State sector.

"So it's a good thing for the country to open these sectors to the foreign private investment sector," he said. "Of the loan commitment, we would focus on long-term investments such as energy like wind power, infrastructure, roads, and the health and education sectors."

He said that German companies believe Vietnam has huge potential in IT and software, and are interested in investment in these areas.

Germany provides loans for Viet Nam in several fields, including a metro system, forestry, secondary education, microfinance and the electricity sector.

Commenting on the slow progress of the Metro's Line No. 2 in HCM City, Schroder said that the project had to deal with geographical and geological issues just as metro projects in other countries do.

In general, the delay of projects in Vietnam is often due to complicated administrative procedures as well as corruption, he added.

Vietnam is KfW's third-largest strategic partner in Asia, following China and India.

Total investment capital that KfW committed to Vietnam, has reached 1.2 billion EUR (1.66 billion USD), with a total of 71 projects, of which 594 million EUR (822 million USD) has been disbursed.-VNA

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