Economic growth can help reduce poverty

Source: Daily Times

Date: December 21, 2010

ISLAMABAD: The economic growth and control of price inflation efficiently would help to mitigate the poverty and allied issues. An economist Dr Ashfaq Hasan termed poverty and growth are interlinked and poverty could never be completely eliminated, as it was a relative term. In foreign countries 6 percent to 7 percent ratio of poverty remains despite their utmost efforts to eliminate it, he said. He said the total ratio of poverty in Pakistan was 22.3 percent and it has been reduced from 34.5 percent since 2000 to 2010. In 2008 inflation increased from 5 to 6 percent, he added. He said Pakistan was about to reach 15 percent of economic growth rate but in 2008 it was reduced to 17 percent due to various reasons and now it’s difficult that we could reach the target. “`BISP and other programmes only provide help and relief to the poor peoples according to their situation but they can never create jobs for them and be the source of income for the peoples”, he added. He suggested poverty could be reduced only by economic progress and the role of private sector in this regard also worth mentioning. The responsibility of the government is to evolve policy and not to provide jobs to the citizen. The private sector is there to arrange the job opportunities for the citizens, he maintained.

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