Time to break the vicious poverty trap.

Byline: S. KAMAL HAYDER KAZMI

The poverty rate in Pakistan was registered at 61.6 percent in 1998 which has reduced to 21.5 percent by 2018, according to HIES surveys. But on the other hand, it is a fact that 77.60 percent of Pakistan's population lives in poor conditions (less than $5.50 per day income). Cycle of poverty before starting to think about poverty reduction, it is important to understand. Simply, if there is a poor family then because of poverty their children will grow up in poverty and such poor children have little or no access to education and skills. As a consequence, they would be unable to find suitable work in the future. Their Income will be low then again they become a poor family and this cycle of poverty will remain to continue.

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Interest Free Loan (IFL) Progress (July 2021 to March 2022 )

No. of Loans Amount Disbursed (Rs million)

Province / Region Name

Male Female Total Male Female Total

AJK 66 730 796 3 35.21 38.21

Balochistan 3,061 754 3,815 160.88 27.71 188.59

GB 537 901 1,438 28.39 47.48 75.87

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 13,674 11,227 24,901 541.57 336.29 877.86

Punjab 130,772 202,892 333,664 4,793.69 7,498.78 12,292.47

Sindh 5,326 19,298 24,624 216.44 724.6 941.04

Total 153,436 235,802 389,238 5,743.96 8,670.07 14,414.03

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Experts identified that Pakistan's economy is expected to grow by only 2 percent in the current fiscal year ending June 2023. According to the World Bank's October 2022 Pakistan Development Update, Inflation and the Poor, the slower growth will reflect disruptions and damages caused by catastrophic floods, a tight monetary stance, high inflation, and a less conducive global environment. Recovery will be gradual, with real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth projected to reach 3.2 percent in the fiscal year 2024.

Sources recorded that the trend of a gradual decline in poverty in the last decade was interrupted in 2020 when poverty grew because of the disruption caused by the Covid-19 crisis combined with the effects of conflict and climate change. Surprisingly, the wealth of the top 100 people in this world is enough to eliminate extreme poverty.

The government of Pakistan tried to reduce poverty by introducing different poverty alleviation programs such as Social Security Program for employees, Workers' Welfare Fund Scheme and Workers' Children Education Ordinance, the Employees Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI), Zakat and Ushr department, Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM), Pakistan Poverty...