Afghanistan Times
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By Farhad Naibkhel-KABUL: The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah expressed his deep concerns over widespread poverty in the country. He said that the government will spare no efforts to alleviate poverty.
Based on summery report of a survey jointly conducted by the Ministry of Economy and the World Bank, 36 percent of the people Afghanistan are living under the line of poverty.
Speaking about the report, Abdullah said that government will start uplift schemes to alleviate poverty. He blamed the war and natural calamities for the widespread poverty.
He said that due to selective implementation of uplift projects, non-productive projects, and inequitable distribution of the national wealth, poverty still remain rampant in Afghanistan.
He added that performances of the National Unity Government (NUG) over the past one year were satisfactory. However, Abdullah said that the government have identified the challenges and will spare no efforts to resolve them.
The Minister of Economy, Satar Murad, citing the summery report said that still 36 percent of the people of Afghanistan live under the line of poverty.
He added that the survey have been conducted in 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2012m, which shows that poverty still remain high, despite economic growth.
He said that poverty in remote and mountainous areas is higher as comparing to urban areas.
Muhammad Ismail Rahimi, the Deputy Minister of Economy, said that despite economic growth, poverty remain widespread across the country. He said that more attention should have been paid to agriculture sector over the past years to alleviate poverty. “36 percent people of Afghanistan are living under the line of poverty and 50 percent others are living near the poverty line,” he added.
Country Director of World Bank for Afghanistan, Robert J. Soumm, said that World Bank will remain committed to help government of Afghanistan to fight against poverty.
