Asia makes progress but more can be done: WB<\/p>\n
Bernice Han, Agence France-Presse, Singapore<\/p>\n
Rapid economic progress in the past two decades has led to a huge
\nreduction in poverty in Asia but there remains a lot more that
\ngovernments can do to help the poor, a senior World Bank official
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
"In East Asia, the situation of the poor has been improving
\nquite dramatically for a long time," Shantayanan Devarajan,
\ndirector of development economics at the World Bank, told AFP in
\na recent interview.<\/p>\n
"There was a setback in the late 1990s with the crisis but it
\nseems like even that has now more or less returned to the
\noriginal path of rapid poverty reduction in places like
\nIndonesia, Thailand and so on," he said, referring to the 1997-
\n1998 financial crisis that wreaked havoc on the region's
\neconomies.<\/p>\n
"So both on income poverty and other dimensions of poverty
\nlike education and health, the situation has been improving quite
\nsubstantially... I would say Asia is not doing too badly at all."<\/p>\n
Poverty in East Asia declined most rapidly in the 1990s with
\nChina an exceptional success, experiencing a decade in which the
\nworld's most populated country made the transition from a
\nbackward Asian nation into a global economic powerhouse.<\/p>\n
"China is actually distinguished as the country that has
\nmanaged to pull the largest number of people out of poverty,"
\nDevarajan said, putting the figure at close to 200 million but
\ngiving no details on when the feat was achieved.<\/p>\n
Figures from the Washington-based lender showed the number of
\npeople living on less than US$1 a day in East Asia and the
\nPacific fell from 452.4 million in 1990 to 267.1 million in 1998.<\/p>\n
In contrast, the number of people living on less than $1 daily
\nin the sub-Saharan Africa region rose from 242.3 million to 301.6
\nmillion during the same period, the World Bank website said.<\/p>\n
A key factor in Asia's success in poverty reduction lies in
\nthe governments' emphasis on economic development and opening the
\ndoors for employment opportunities, Devarajan said.<\/p>\n
"I think the governments are doing the right thing because
\nwhat we found out from the experience is that the best thing for
\nreducing poverty is rapid economic growth," he said.<\/p>\n
"And that's what these countries are focusing on and that's
\nwhat they have managed to achieve."<\/p>\n
But economic growth by itself is not sufficient to address
\nlong-standing problems related to poverty in areas such as
\neducation or improving health care access for the poor, Devarajan
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
This is where the state can step up its efforts to remedy the
\nsituation, he said.<\/p>\n
"Now there are other issues that growth by itself, while it is
\nabsolutely essential, may not be enough," Devarajan said.<\/p>\n
"For instance, to reduce child mortality... and I think that
\nis where I would like to see the governments do a little bit
\nextra while maintaining the focus on growth."<\/p>\n
Also, problems at the so-called next level are already
\nemerging in countries such as Thailand and the Philippines, where
\nthe economies have made strong recoveries from the 1997-1998
\ncrisis.<\/p>\n
"In areas where we think the problem at least at the basic
\nlevel has been achieved of primary education and primary health,
\nyou are beginning to see problems at the next level," Devarajan
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
"So for instance, in Thailand, there is a problem with
\nsecondary education or in the Philippines," he said.<\/p>\n
Even in China, the progress achieved in poverty reduction is
\nnot as widespread in rural areas, Devarajan said,<\/p>\n
"For instance, there are parts of China that have very high
\npoverty and in particular in rural China," he said.<\/p>",
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