The review conference of Third Rural Finance Project funded by World Bank (WB) has been held by Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) on 21st July 2014.
Attending the conference were Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, WB’s Country Director for Vietnam Victoria Kwakwa, leaders of State Bank of Vietnam, BIDV and more than 30 commerce banks and people’s credit funds.
The objective of the 3rd Rural Finance Project for Vietnam (RF3) will be to increase economic benefits to rural private enterprises and households by increasing their access to finance. The expected outcomes will include: (i) improved access to financial services for rural entrepreneurs; (ii) increased capital investment made by the rural entrepreneurs as well as increased employment; (iii) increased lending, particularly term lending to the rural private sector for capital investment by all participating financial institutions (PFIs) on market-based terms. The RF3 which is invested an amount of US$200 million, is expected to carry out in 2009-2013. BIDV is appointed to manage, supervise and disburse all the items within the project.
Associate Dean of UEB’s Faculty of Finance and Banking Dr. Tran Thi Thanh Tu holds the post of project’s Advisory Team Leader. At the conference, she presented the assessment report on the socio-economic impacts of the project. The report stated the significant impacts of the project in (i) income, (ii) job opportunities and (iii) significant changes in the quality of life of the eventual borrowers.
The report also recognized the impacts of the project on enhancing institutional capacity, improving financial situation and increasing access to loans in the agricultural sector and rural areas participating in the project. Wholesale banking model is considered as a crucial factor of the project, in which BIDV is the direct manager, supervisor in charge of disbursement and debt recovery.
WB Country Director Victoria Kwakwa expressed her agreement with the assessment of RF3 project in Vietnam.
The University of Economics and Business has another faculty member who joins the advisory team, Dr. Nguyen Phu Ha. This is a good opportunity for UEB’s faculty members to participate in microfinance projects and open up further opportunities for collaboration with BIDV and other financial institutions.