ISLAMABAD, Nov 7: The Islamabad Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has urged the government to invest in education and health sectors to arrest the constant increase in poverty level during the last several years.

Commenting on the recently-released annual report of State Bank of Pakistan at the chambers office here, the ICCI president, Zubair Ahmed Malik, said, although, the country’s economy had seen some improvement, the people at large were yet to see its effect.

He said the government should increase budgetary allocation for the public sector development programme to five per cent of GDP or Rs200 billion to have any meaningful impact on poverty reduction and employment generation.

The incidence of poverty in Pakistan has risen from almost 20 per cent to 33 per cent over the last several years. According to UNDP Report 2003, about 65.6 per cent of the people earn less than two dollars a day.

Pakistan has a large population resource, but it will be a source of strength only if properly developed through extensive investment in education and health. In education, the ICCI president said, Pakistan ranked among the lowest countries in Asia.

The government has allocated two per cent of the GDP in the last federal budget for education sector, which is too small an allocation and, according to past practice, the actual expenditure will be much less than two per cent. Thirty four per cent of the children do not reach the primary school.

In the health sector, the situation is no better, Mr Malik said, adding that more than 80 per cent of the population did not have access to clean drinking water. Estimated maternal mortality rates have doubled from 200 in 1995 to 400 per 100,000 live births. Infant mortality rate is 84 per 1,000 live births, he said.

He said foreign and domestic investment was almost stagnant due to law and order situation and the bureaucratic irritants were a real source of concern for the investors.