Economic Survey 2017-18: Poverty declines from 29.5pc to 24.3pc

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Survey 2017-18 has shown decline in poverty at national level from 29.5 percent to 24.3 percent, however, the government has kept mum over prevailing poverty situation in provinces.

The incidence of poverty concentrated in rural areas as out of 24.3 percent population living in cruel clutches of poverty at national level, it stood at 12.5 percent in urban areas and 30.7 percent in rural areas of Pakistan.

According to the Economic Survey 2017-18 launched by PM’s Adviser on Finance Miftah Ismail and Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal here on Thursday, the poverty has declined by 5.2 percent bringing down from 29.5 percent on the basis of 2013-14 to 24.3 percent on the basis of survey done in 2015-16. It demonstrates that the incidence of poverty declined during the era of PML-N-led regime.

However, the Centre did not release poverty situation prevailing in provinces apparently because the PTI-led KP had performed well among all the four provinces. The initial assessment of 2015-16 data indicates that the poverty in KP declined significantly in the range of 8 to 10 percent while three other provinces lagged behind. It also exposed the performance of three other provincial governments.

The Economic Survey 2017-18 states that over the last decade, Pakistan’s poverty headcount has witnessed a persistent decline both at national and regional levels. Percentage of people living below poverty line has declined from 50.4 percent in 2005-06 to 24.3 percent in 2015-16.

Poverty in both rural and urban areas has also been on the declining trend with poverty headcount of 12.5 percent in Urban and 30.7 percent in rural areas in 2015-16. The decline in poverty is more pronounced in urban areas than rural areas.

While comparing with 2011-12 largest percentage decline in poverty headcount was observed in year 2013-14 when national poverty headcount was declined by 6.8 percentage points with 6.2 percentage points decline in urban and 7.5 percentage points in rural areas. Poverty headcount has declined by 5.7 percentage points in urban areas and 4.9 percentage points in rural areas between 2014 and 2016, thereby leading to an overall decline of 5.2 percentage points decline in incidence of national poverty headcount, the Economic Survey 2017-18 added.

Overall, despite floods of 2010 and chronic energy shortages, aggravated security situation and government’s limited capacity to mobilise and channelise its own resources exclusively for social welfare and poverty eradication programmes, the declining trend in poverty headcount in Pakistan is both promising and encouraging, the survey states.

Strong resurgence of economic growth, more provincial autonomy to shape and spearhead their own social welfare and poverty eradication programmes and targeted social safety nets programme of BISP have all been the main drivers of poverty decline in the past, it concluded.