WB disburses first $20 mil. for VN’s rural development

Through BIDV, around US $12 million will be allocated to eight commercial banks, namely Maritime Bank, Kiên Long Bank, Techcombank, Western Bank, Habubank, Military Bank, Saigon Bank, and Sacombank, to re-lend individuals, farmer households, small and medium enterprises in rural areas. The disbursement will finish this month.

It is expected that around 5,000 beneficiaries in rural areas will be able to access to the source.

Earlier, in mid-May, BIDV signed a sub-loan contract with these eight financial institutions which are selected to re-lend WB credits for RFP III.

In 2009, BIDV plans to select 12 financial institutions to get involved in the project. The Bank also intends to draw out around US $60 million from the WB of which US $50 million will be disbursed.

RFP III aims at further supporting Việt Nam’s agricultural and rural development through increasing rural households and private enterprises’ access to financial resources. It also helps the financial organizations provide better services to rural areas.

The project will be realized throughout the country, except for four central-level cities, namely Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, Đà Nẵng and Hồ Chí Minh City.

By Kim Anh