Macroeconomic stability helps extract 12.8 million from poverty trap: Saarc meeting told

The overall macroeconomic stability enabling the environment for investment, greater employment opportunities and enhanced pro-poor expenditures have facilitated reduction in poverty level. Accordingly, the incidence of poverty has fallen from 34.5 percent in 2001 to 23.9 percent in 2005. Resultantly, around 12.8 million people have come out of the poverty trap.
This was stated by Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission (Minister of State) Muhammad Akram Sheikh at the first meeting of Saarc Ministers, dealing with Poverty Alleviation, in Colombo, a message received here on Friday said.
Pakistan has subsequently launched an integrated and holistic Medium-Term Development Framework (2005-10) with an overarching objective of poverty reduction, subsuming the strategy articulated in Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme (PRSP), he said.
The specific allocations for Poverty Reduction and achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDG) targets have been set at Rs 712 billion, which account for 35 percent of total Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) in MTDF.
Akram said that following the successful implementation of first PRSP, the pro-poor expenditures had reached 5.25 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2005-06, against 3.6 percent of GDP in 2002-03. "During our recent reviews of MTDF implementation," he said, "we have further strengthened our focus on people-centered development efforts."
The PC Deputy Chairman said that poverty reduction was one of the biggest challenges at present. Although poverty is still pervasive in most developing countries, it is a major concern in South Asia which has the highest number of poor, unemployed and illiterate people.
South Asia, he said, despite its enormous human and physical assets, is one of the most deprived regions of the World. About two centuries ago, this region had one-third of world GDP, but due to various factors the share of world GDP continued to fall, "and we currently have less than two percent of total world trade," he added.
In line with the regional approach and emphasis on poverty reduction, Akram said, Pakistan had launched its first PRSP in 2003, which envisaged a high and sustainable pro-poor growth, improvement in governance, human resource development and strengthening of social safety nets "for the vulnerable and chronically poor".
He said, "We are strengthening our safety nets to bring the bottom 10 percent of the income group out of perpetual poverty. A nation-wide Social Mobilisation Project is also being launched for organising rural poor into community organisations for their empowerment and uplift by harnessing their potential."
He said that the high and sustainable pro-poor growth during the last three years at an average rate of 7.5 percent had led to a sharp reduction in poverty.
"Notwithstanding a devastating earthquake and the rising oil prices during the last fiscal year, Pakistan still managed to maintain the growth momentum with GDP growth at 6.6 percent," he added.
He said that the impact of poverty reduction was more significant in rural areas, where poverty declined by 11 percentage points, against about eight percentage points in urban areas.
"Pakistan is also implementing the Plan of Action on Saarc Social Charter and MDG goals and targets, which form an integral part of our MTDF," he said, and added that "we are preparing annual reports regularly, incorporating progress on achieving the MDG goals and targets."
In addition to poverty reduction, he said, "we are also giving high priority to implementing the plan of action on Saarc Social Charter, aiming at empowerment of poor, women, children, and youth, and transformation of the society to a safe, rich and healthy living for future generations.