Soc Trang: Poverty rate plunges to 2.66 pct. in five years

 

Soc Trang (VNA) - The poverty rate in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang fell from 17.89 percent in 2016 to 2.66 percent in 2020 thanks to the effectiveness of the National Target Programme on Sustainable Poverty Reduction.

The result was revealed by Ma Chi Thanh, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs during a conference reviewing the five-year implementation of the programme in the Mekong Delta province on January 19.

Thanh said that the number of poor households in Soc Trang was more than 57,800 in 2016, with Khmer ethnic minority families accounting for nearly 27 percent of the total.

Five years later, the number was brought down to just over 8,610, or 2.66 percent of the total, he noted, adding that only 4.13 percent of Khmer ethnic minority households were classified as poor last year.

The poverty rate declined more than 3 percent annually over the last five years - higher than the goal set by the provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee.

Huynh Thi Diem Ngoc, Vice Chairwoman of the provincial People’s Committee, said that in the next five years the province is set to cut the poverty rate by 2-3 percent and the rate of disadvantaged Khmer households by 3-4 percent annually.

To this end, it plans to accelerate economic restructuring, particularly in agriculture, and develop fisheries towards commodity production. It will also expand effective business models and raise financial support for vocational training and job creation.

Soc Trang targets providing vocational training to at least 13,000 local workers, create 23,000-25,000 jobs, and send 300-500 people abroad as guest workers./.