ISLAMABAD, Sept 16: The government has been advised by an officially-appointed experts’ committee to conduct a new household survey immediately to measure the poverty level, which according to international donors is very high in Pakistan.
Officials told Dawn here that an experts committee, headed by Pakistan Institute of Development Economics president Dr A.R. Kamal, has finalised its report, rejecting the finance ministry’s objections against integrated household survey prepared by the statistics division.
The government has been maintaining that the survey conducted by the statistics division was faulty as it showed poverty on the higher side. However, the experts committee’s report to be presented to the ministry of finance within a week, proposed that a little more effort should be made in selecting dedicated workers, who could go door to door to collect adequate data about the people’s daily consumption to determine the poverty level.
The committee has finalised its report after consulting the United Nations statistical office about the human development indicators, specially relating to poverty.
Sources pointed out that the UN experts said that while making broad structural adjustments in the economy, governments in the developing countries could genuinely face some serious problems to overcome poverty. However, in case of Pakistan, it was said that after three years of reforms, the level of poverty should come down. But rising population was cited as the main hurdle in reducing poverty.
Dr Kamal confirmed to this correspondent that his experts committee had declared the household survey conducted by the statistic division as being “correct,” disagreeing with the objections raised by the finance ministry.
According to official documents, there had been 32.1 per cent poverty in 2000-2001 against 30.6 per cent and 24.9 per cent in 1998-99 and 1992-93, respectively. There was no survey conducted in 2001-02 and onward but the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have been saying that poverty has increased beyond 2000-01.