French grant to boost microcredit programmes

The French Development Agency is to grant 1 million euros (US$1.34 million) to help the State Bank develop a sustainable microfinance sector.

The agreement was signed yesterday between State Bank deputy governor Le Minh Hung and agency country director Jean-Marc Gravellini. The agreement offers to support the State Bank’s technical assistance project entitled “Improvement of the legal framework and strengthening of the supervision and management ability of the microfinance sector in Viet Nam”.

The project is expected to promote a financially and institutionally sustainable microfinance sector in order to broaden access to financial services for more Vietnamese.

An analysis of the legal and regulatory environment of microfinance in Viet Nam will be conducted and training offered for State Bank executives and concerned parties in the microfinance industry to improve the industry’s capacity.

With the new agreement, the agency’s total net commitment for public official development assistance in Viet Nam will come to around 1.07 billion euros ($1.4 billion).

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