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Squandered decade: Poverty reduction spending proves useless
January 28, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Some $1.2 billion dollars spent by the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) in the past ten years has gone to waste as poverty levels in Pakistan kept increasing instead of decreasing during that period.
Members of the Cabinet's Economic Coordination Committee reached this conclusion in their January 13 meeting.
The meeting, which was presided by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, scrutinised the PPAF's performance and its expenditure; the fund's authorities gave a presentation to over two dozen ministers.
According to official documents available with The Express Tribune, the PPAF was originally established by Dr Hafeez Pasha, Dr Shahid Javed Burki, Mueen Afzal from the finance division, member planning Muttawakal Qazi, former secretary of the planning division Ashraf Hayat, economic affairs division joint secretaries Javid Hassan and Shahab Anwar Khawaja, and a former planning and development division secretary. Funds from the Pakistani government were transferred to this newly-established organisation.
Following the presentation, the documents say, all ministers believed that a huge amount had been wasted in the name of poverty reduction efforts.
They claimed they could not see any visible impact on the lives of the poor over the period the PPAF had been functioning.
Earlier, a presentation was given to ECC members in which they were told that the PPAF became operational in 2000 and had its own independent board of directors. The government of Pakistan has been contributing funds and also arranged for loans from other agencies, which would be repaid by the Government of Pakistan.
The ECC was told that the PPAF covered 95 per cent of Pakistan, that is 127 districts. It has 87 partners, works with 242,000 community-based organisations and covers up to 80,000 villages and settlements. The output for micro loans is 2,800,000 infrastructure loans, including 22,800 H&E projects and 120,000 housing units. It has also trained 447,000 individuals.
After the presentation, government ministers criticised the PPAF and its authorities for what they termed was its failure in achieving its goals despite spending billions of dollar.
The ministers observed that the PPAF had no comprehensive strategy or plan for poverty reduction in Pakistan. They said that there was no integrated or focused approach and mechanism to address the issue.
The ministers said that the programme should be launched with focused and targeted objectives.
Some participants said that duplication of activities among different organisations such as the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP), the PPAF and the public sector was another sore spot.
Participants also observed that there was no linkage between PPAF and public representatives and that public representatives did not know where the PPAF was getting money from and where and how it was being spent.
Most representatives did not have the programme in their constituencies, despite the fact that poverty exists everywhere in Pakistan.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/110355/squandered-decade-poverty-reduction-spending-proves-useless/
---
Pakistan: Statistics reveal stunning increase in poverty
World Bank's Task Force on Food Security says 40pc Pakistanis living below poverty line
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
By Ikram Hoti
The NEWS
ISLAMABAD: Statistics reveal stunning increase in poverty in Pakistan impacted by the prices of energy and food in the past three years.
These happen to be the worst years as far as the poverty situation in the country is concerned, data reveals.
As many as 40% of the country's population are living below the Poverty line, data confirms.
The Federal Bureau of Statistics data updated for the Centre for Poverty Reduction and Social Policy Development (CPRSPD), Planning and Development Division, shared with The News indicates an upswing in the headcount poverty ratio for 2008-09.
The steep increase in the prices of petroleum products, electricity and natural gas as well as food items (especially flour, sugar, meat and oil) began in 2007, while the situation worsened in 2008 with global increase in POL and commodity prices.
The financial meltdown followed as industry could not cope with the rising energy prices triggered sharp slowdown in growth and high inflation.
This situation impacted Pakistan's economy generally and the poor households particularly, as the report indicates.
The government is yet to make this report public after its preparation is formalized and the relevant officials in high places approve its launch.
The News obtained salient figures from this report revealing that the increase in food and energy prices since late 2007 compelled the government to launch a household income and expenditure survey for assessment of poverty increase and vulnerability of the countryside and city-slum majority.
Survey to make such assessment got delayed for inexplicable reasons but the reports based on a 5-year old assessment got regularly updated for the federal cabinet's appraisal.
The updated Planning Commission's Interim Report based on 2004-05 poverty head count number of 23.9 percent put the increase in poverty at around 6 percent for the year 2008-09. The newly updated figures say this ratio must go as high as 29.9 percent.
The World Bank's Task Force on Food Security had put the ratio at 29.2 percent in 2004-05, 33.8 percent in 2007-08 and 36.1 percent in 2008-09. Such estimates placed 62 million people of the country Below the Poverty Line (BPL) in 2008-09.
The new assessments say at least 20 million people might have joined the previous headcount on BPL population.
The poverty increase situation thus stood as follows: 22.3 percent of the population in 2005-06 to between 30-35 percent in 2008-09; now this population is beyond 40 percent.
The data is explained in a manner that the increase in BPL population in the rural areas is more tragic as people lost their small holdings to inflation and overall expenditure per family unit increased by more than 20 percent in the past 3 years.
Though the increase of inflation-hit population in the urban areas remained more pronounced, the net impact was far lower than in the rural areas.
More than 50 percent of the urban workforce underwent decrease in actual wages viz a viz inflation.
The high food prices undermined the government efforts for poverty reduction as food price hike severely eroded poor households' purchasing power.
This situation indicates a serious risk of massive school dropouts at primary levels while fresh enrolments would also be on the decline.
The poorest households are compelled to spend more than 78 percent of incomes on food and other most essential expenditure, while health and education are tragically compromised areas.
http://economyofpakistan.blogspot.com/2010/02/statistics-reveal-stunning-increase-in.html
January 28, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Some $1.2 billion dollars spent by the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) in the past ten years has gone to waste as poverty levels in Pakistan kept increasing instead of decreasing during that period.
Members of the Cabinet's Economic Coordination Committee reached this conclusion in their January 13 meeting.
The meeting, which was presided by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, scrutinised the PPAF's performance and its expenditure; the fund's authorities gave a presentation to over two dozen ministers.
According to official documents available with The Express Tribune, the PPAF was originally established by Dr Hafeez Pasha, Dr Shahid Javed Burki, Mueen Afzal from the finance division, member planning Muttawakal Qazi, former secretary of the planning division Ashraf Hayat, economic affairs division joint secretaries Javid Hassan and Shahab Anwar Khawaja, and a former planning and development division secretary. Funds from the Pakistani government were transferred to this newly-established organisation.
Following the presentation, the documents say, all ministers believed that a huge amount had been wasted in the name of poverty reduction efforts.
They claimed they could not see any visible impact on the lives of the poor over the period the PPAF had been functioning.
Earlier, a presentation was given to ECC members in which they were told that the PPAF became operational in 2000 and had its own independent board of directors. The government of Pakistan has been contributing funds and also arranged for loans from other agencies, which would be repaid by the Government of Pakistan.
The ECC was told that the PPAF covered 95 per cent of Pakistan, that is 127 districts. It has 87 partners, works with 242,000 community-based organisations and covers up to 80,000 villages and settlements. The output for micro loans is 2,800,000 infrastructure loans, including 22,800 H&E projects and 120,000 housing units. It has also trained 447,000 individuals.
After the presentation, government ministers criticised the PPAF and its authorities for what they termed was its failure in achieving its goals despite spending billions of dollar.
The ministers observed that the PPAF had no comprehensive strategy or plan for poverty reduction in Pakistan. They said that there was no integrated or focused approach and mechanism to address the issue.
The ministers said that the programme should be launched with focused and targeted objectives.
Some participants said that duplication of activities among different organisations such as the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP), the PPAF and the public sector was another sore spot.
Participants also observed that there was no linkage between PPAF and public representatives and that public representatives did not know where the PPAF was getting money from and where and how it was being spent.
Most representatives did not have the programme in their constituencies, despite the fact that poverty exists everywhere in Pakistan.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/110355/squandered-decade-poverty-reduction-spending-proves-useless/
---
Pakistan: Statistics reveal stunning increase in poverty
World Bank's Task Force on Food Security says 40pc Pakistanis living below poverty line
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
By Ikram Hoti
The NEWS
ISLAMABAD: Statistics reveal stunning increase in poverty in Pakistan impacted by the prices of energy and food in the past three years.
These happen to be the worst years as far as the poverty situation in the country is concerned, data reveals.
As many as 40% of the country's population are living below the Poverty line, data confirms.
The Federal Bureau of Statistics data updated for the Centre for Poverty Reduction and Social Policy Development (CPRSPD), Planning and Development Division, shared with The News indicates an upswing in the headcount poverty ratio for 2008-09.
The steep increase in the prices of petroleum products, electricity and natural gas as well as food items (especially flour, sugar, meat and oil) began in 2007, while the situation worsened in 2008 with global increase in POL and commodity prices.
The financial meltdown followed as industry could not cope with the rising energy prices triggered sharp slowdown in growth and high inflation.
This situation impacted Pakistan's economy generally and the poor households particularly, as the report indicates.
The government is yet to make this report public after its preparation is formalized and the relevant officials in high places approve its launch.
The News obtained salient figures from this report revealing that the increase in food and energy prices since late 2007 compelled the government to launch a household income and expenditure survey for assessment of poverty increase and vulnerability of the countryside and city-slum majority.
Survey to make such assessment got delayed for inexplicable reasons but the reports based on a 5-year old assessment got regularly updated for the federal cabinet's appraisal.
The updated Planning Commission's Interim Report based on 2004-05 poverty head count number of 23.9 percent put the increase in poverty at around 6 percent for the year 2008-09. The newly updated figures say this ratio must go as high as 29.9 percent.
The World Bank's Task Force on Food Security had put the ratio at 29.2 percent in 2004-05, 33.8 percent in 2007-08 and 36.1 percent in 2008-09. Such estimates placed 62 million people of the country Below the Poverty Line (BPL) in 2008-09.
The new assessments say at least 20 million people might have joined the previous headcount on BPL population.
The poverty increase situation thus stood as follows: 22.3 percent of the population in 2005-06 to between 30-35 percent in 2008-09; now this population is beyond 40 percent.
The data is explained in a manner that the increase in BPL population in the rural areas is more tragic as people lost their small holdings to inflation and overall expenditure per family unit increased by more than 20 percent in the past 3 years.
Though the increase of inflation-hit population in the urban areas remained more pronounced, the net impact was far lower than in the rural areas.
More than 50 percent of the urban workforce underwent decrease in actual wages viz a viz inflation.
The high food prices undermined the government efforts for poverty reduction as food price hike severely eroded poor households' purchasing power.
This situation indicates a serious risk of massive school dropouts at primary levels while fresh enrolments would also be on the decline.
The poorest households are compelled to spend more than 78 percent of incomes on food and other most essential expenditure, while health and education are tragically compromised areas.
http://economyofpakistan.blogspot.com/2010/02/statistics-reveal-stunning-increase-in.html
