Poverty Reduced To Almost 50% In Last Decade

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jul, 2018 ) :Over the last decade, Pakistan's poverty headcount has witnessed a persistent decline both at national and regional levels reducing it from 50.4 percent in 2005-06 to 24.3 percent in 2015-16 with a major contribution of social security programmes with Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) on the top.

� 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.

Targeted poverty reduction programmes like Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), relative political stability and strong recovery from low Gross Development Product (GDP) growth rate of 0.4 percent in 2008-09 to 4.5 percent in 2015-16 are some of the important reasons that can be attributed to decline in the poverty headcount.

The poverty ratio was reduced from 50.4 percent in 2005-06 to 44.1 percent in 2007-08, followed by 36.8 percent in 2010-11, 36.3 percent in 2011-12, 29.5 percent in 2013-14 and 24.3 percent in�2015-16, official sources told APP.

Vision 2025 has also recognized that poverty is indeed a multidimensional phenomenon, encompassing not only monetary deprivations but also the inaccessibility of healthcare,� education and other amenities of life, they said.

Launched in July 2008, BISP is now the largest single cash transfer programme in Pakistan, they informed adding, since its inception, it has disbursed approximately Rs 554 billion as cash transfers plus Conditional Education Cash Transfers (CCTs) to enhance Primary school enrolment and attendance.

The initiative aims to enrol approximately two million children in primary schools by December 2018. Since its start in October 2012, over 1.9 million children have been enrolled and a total of about Rs 5.81 billion has been disbursed until December 2017.

The number of BISP beneficiaries has increase d from 3.73 million in 2012-13 to around 5.6 million as of 31st December 2017.

Quarterly cash grant has also gradually been enhanced from Rs3.000/-per family to Rs4,834/-in 2016-17.

Responding to the requirement, Planning Commission started using Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) to discern the nature and extent of deprivations in all its dimensions.�This will help in provision of an indicator for inclusive and balanced socioeconomic development and it is a demand arising from our commitment to Sustainable Development Goals, they informed.