Illustrative photo (Source: VNA)

The PM asked the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to allocate more than 3,700 tonnes of rice from national reserves for poor households in the provinces.

The rice will be distributed among the northern provinces of Ha Giang (359 tonnes), Yen Bai (380 tonnes) and Cao Bang (603 tonnes), the central provinces of Phu Yen (399 tonnes), Binh Dinh (1,000 tonnes) and Quang Binh (975 tonnes).

The provincial People’s Committees will be responsible for distributing the rice to the targeted residents.

The General Department of State Reserve under the MoF provided 120,428 tonnes of rice worth about 1.18 trillion VND (50.74 million USD) to needy people in localities nationwide in 2018.

Each year, about 16 provinces send requests for rice to help locals ahead of Tet and in between-crop periods. The total requested volume averages 12,000 tonnes per million people.

A representative of the reserve said the rice will reach the needy within three days of the Prime Minister issuing the decision.

Source: VNA