The southern province of Tay Ninh on March 5 approved raising the projected charter capital of the provincial Investment and Development Fund to 500 billion VND (23.5 million USD), in a bid to support local small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to stabilise their production and business.

Under the project, the money sourced from the local budget will be fully poured into the fund by 2015.

As much as 170 billion VND (7.99 million USD) is expected to be disbursed to support local SMEs and step up the locality’s economy this year.

The capital added is necessary to meet local SMEs’ demand for loans while the fund’s current charter capital is only 271 billion VND (12.7 million USD).

Last year, 70.7 billion VND (3.32 million USD) sourced from the fund was mobilised to help several SMEs in the locality construct their waste disposal systems, contributing to improving the local environment.

Since its establishment in 2010, the fund has seen an annual average growth rate of 158 percent and served as an efficient tool to boost the local economy.-VNA