World Bank to help Guizhou’s poverty relief efforts

By CnAgri Print

Guizhou will be getting a poverty-alleviation loan from the World Bank, amounting to $140 million, according to an announcement at a WB-financed poverty alleviation meeting in Guizhou province, on Oct 30.

A little over a third of that $140 million will come from a project okayed by the State Council’s Poverty Alleviation and Development office (SCOPAD), and the remainder from a program with National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and Finance Ministry approval.

SCOPAD has announced that Guizhou has been recognized as a poverty alleviation pilot project (and demonstration model) in poverty-stricken parts of China, with WB financing. It will get a bank loan of $40 million for spending on competitive-industry development, sustainable land management, climate-change adaptation, infrastructure construction, and rural organization construction projects.

At the same time, the NDRC and Finance Ministry have added Guizhou's rural development program to a short-list for World Bank loans for the fiscal years 2013-2015. This program will bring the province a WB loan of $100 million, to be used for industrial poverty alleviation projects, modernized planting and breeding, the industrialization of poverty alleviation agriculture, and product processing and logistics.

Poverty has long been an issue in Guizhou, especially in economic and social development. Data show Guizhou as China's poorest province as regards rural development and, it ranks second in the country in poverty, with a level of 45.1 percent.

According to provincial poverty relief officials, both projects will be used to fight severe poverty in areas where it concentrates. And, the level of industrial development, prospects for pillar industry development, and chances of its effectiveness will all be taken into consideration in choosing the project and the place.

Source: Chinadaily.com.cn