ISLAMABAD, April 25: Referring to a news item headlined “Rural poverty rising: World Bank”, published in Dawn’s April 24 issue, the World Bank has said that the headline is incorrect.

According to a press release issued by the bank on Wednesday, the news item had referred to a bank report “Pakistan: Promoting Rural Growth and Poverty Reduction” which did not suggest that rural poverty had been on the rise.

By one measure referred to in the report, it said, rural poverty declined from 39.1 per cent to 34 per cent in Pakistan between 2001-02 and 2004-05.

Another press release issued by the Finance Division of the government of Pakistan says that both rural and urban poverty as well as national poverty declined substantially during the period 2000-01 and 2004-05, a fact acknowledged by the UNDP, Asian Development Bank, DFID and the World Bank.