Development Support Fund invests in economy
Ha Noi, Feb. 13 (VNA) -- Prime Minister Phan Van Khai urged the Development Support Fund, SDF, pump its capital into bolstering Viet Nam's most competitive industries at conference held in Ha Noi Feb. 13.
"The fund should foster and encourage the development of competitive Vietnamese-made products, and focus on sectors that can boost employment," Khai said.
The Prime Minister asked the fund to study and classify the country's development programmes, and apply reasonable interest rates in a bid to boost socio-economic development.
This year, the DSF plans to inject VND 25,000 billion (roughly USD 1.7 billion) of development investment into the economy, of which VND 15,000 billion will come from domestic sources and the rest from abroad, Viet Nam News reports.
The fund will allocate VND 3,124 billion for major Government-approved projects, VND 1,200 billion for infrastructure works (including a new national stadium and 28 transport projects), and VND 1,000 billion for electricity schemes.
Other projects set to benefit from the fund include a five-million-hectare afforestation project (VND 150 billion), an offshore fishing and aqua-culture project (VND 250 billion), projects on producing, processing and trading export products (VND 2,000 billion), and selected engineering projects (VND 450 billion).
Agriculture is also a priority area, with VND 500 billion earmarked for fertiliser projects and another VND 500 billion for irrigation and rural road works.
Last year, DSF signed credit contracts with 1,213 development projects with a total capital of VND 6,736 billion, including 332 centrally-run projects worth VND 4,471 billion and 781 locally-managed projects estimated at VND 2,265 billion.
The fund disbursed VND 4,723 billion, up 81.4 percent over 1999, including VND 2,000 billion for projects under previous plans and VND 2,284 billion for projects under 2000 development programmes.--VNA
