Share this story!            

Poverty level to be reduced to 50% by 2015: Salman

* Govt trying to maintain GDP growth rate at 6-8% to generate employment

By Sajid Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: Dr Salman Shah, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Economic Affairs, has said we want to maintain GDP growth rate at 6-8% during the next 15-20 years so that employment opportunities can be generated for reduction in poverty.

Poverty level of 25% is still very high and we want to cut it further down by 50% by end of 2015 to meet the targets of Millennium Development Goals (MGDs). MGDs costing gap will be filled and the government will finance all initiatves for reduction in poverty levels. We will take globalization as opportunity so that benefits of it can be availed. All important recommendation received at consultative process would be incorporated in the final PRSP II document so that desired result are achieved.

He was speaking at the concluding session of the third consultative workshop on PRSP II here on Saturday evening. Earlier, the Third Consultative Workshop on Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper II finalized some key recommendations for incorporation in the final poverty document to be implemented during 2006-2009 on Saturday. Economic experts suggested key initiatives to meet the challenges of income inequality, globalization, unemployment, gender inequality and environment in the proposed PRSP II.

Strategies to reduce income inequalities: There should be accountability in the social sector spending of the government where there have been instances of mismanagement and underutilization of allocated funds.

Social security system: It was proposed that there was need to streamline and integrate / various social security programmes being managed by the government. Their effectiveness can be enhanced if all dispersed programmes run by different ministries of the government are brought under one umbrella.

Development of livestock: To raise the income level of the rural poor it was felt that an aggressive livestock development policy should be launched by the govt. The government should provide subsidies on live stock insurance, easy availability of credit to small farmers for purchase of better quality livestock, improved facilities and guidance to livestock farmers.

Human resource development: To arrest growing inequality it was proposed that the poor should be provided access to quality education by improving sector institutions, fellowships/vouchers for quality education in the private sector, enhanced technical and vocational training facilities by updating labs, syllabi and teachers training.

Rural industrialization: Industrialization of rural areas should focus on utilization of local resources and labour force.

Land Reforms: Improvements must be made in areas such as updating of land record and the records should be transparent to check whether previous land reforms have been flouted and tenancy laws and other legal framework should be looked into. If there is any distribution of state land, gender perspective should be taken into consideration to balance land ownership between men and women.

Easy availability of credit: Credit schemes focusing on needs of the poor with reasonable interest rates should be made easily available.

Unemployment: A duty on remittances should be levied similar to the export development cess to set up a Manpower Development fund. Skill-based training should be provided to the workforce meant for export. Some of the existing training centres and vocational centres should be privatized to upgrade them to meet the demand of foreign markets. Training programmes should be developed in collaboration with highly credible institutions from the UK or Singapore. There should be criteria to classify a project for the poor.

Reducing gender gap: It was proposed that a system should be developed to establish linkages between educational institutions and the employment market to check the rising unemployment among the educated youth. It was proposed that economic emancipation of women is important to change the present mind-set about women, hence future agricultural and housing and allotments should have a quota for women as at present they have very little assets in their name. Mapping of informal sector can go a long way in visibility and recognition of women’s contribution to the economy since women are mostly employed in the informal sector. Measures for monetization of women’s work at home should be incorporated in the PRSP ll. Women-specific loan schemes have to be improved by not only increasing the amount of loans available to women, but also by making terms and conditions more simple and by providing advisory services on how to utilize that loan in a productive manner.

The PRSP ll should focus on generating employment specific to women and women’s health and education, as it will lead to narrowing down of gender gap. Women’s quota in public-sector employment should be increased to 50%.

Globalization and its impact on poverty in Pakistan: Manpower planning should be part of the PRSP ll for promoting skill development so that Pakistani labour can meet the challenges posed by globalization. Manpower training strategy should take into consideration the trends and needs in international and domestic markets. Restriction on export of female labour force from Pakistan should be removed. Protection of vulnerable groups through social security safety nets should be ensured. The PRSP ll should explore the possibility of instituting social security insurance. The PRSP ll should have a clear strategy to protect the interests of consumers as globalization affects the provision and prices of services and goods. It should take into account the impact of import substitution on domestic production and how it is affecting the domestic employment scenario.

Environment: The environmental cost of development should be kept in mind while preparing development plans. Pakistan should sign the international conventions and agreements on environments. The PRSP 11 should clearly mention the strategy for the construction of big dams and mega projects such as the LBOD that are likely to have great impact on environment. It was suggested that Pakistan should have a clear policy for the setting up of micro-hydro plants, which has a total capacity of 40,000 megawatts in China. The practice of giving license to bring trawlers for fishing into Pakistani waters should be stopped since it is adversely affecting poor fishermen. There is need to develop environmentally-friendly beach development since the development of the 750-kilometer long coastline would have grave consequences for poor fishermen in the area.

Home | Business

Share this story!