Asian crisis drags 100m into poverty<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (Reuters): Asia's poor are getting poorer.<\/p>\n
Beneath the cold statistics and headlines of the Asian crisis,
\na human disaster is unfolding as millions of unemployed, landless
\npoor and dispossessed fall below the poverty line.<\/p>\n
Figures from UN agencies and independent policy researchers
\nshow the Asian economic slump has had a devastating impact on the
\nlives of ordinary people.<\/p>\n
Thrown out of work from factories or building sites in the
\nregion's teeming cities, workers subsist on occasional casual
\nlabor or return to a land that can no longer support them.<\/p>\n
Without remittances from their pay-packets, families in rural
\nvillages are unable to meet basic food needs and risk losing
\ntheir small-holdings if they are unable to pay the rent.<\/p>\n
\"Across the region, we are talking about upwards of 100
\nmillion people newly impoverished,\" said Shafiq Dhanani, a
\nconsultant to the International Labor Organization (ILO) in the
\nIndonesian capital, Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"It is a real human tragedy, a terrible crisis pushing people
\nback into the levels of poverty not seen for 30 years.\"<\/p>\n
Assessing the scale of poverty in Asia is extremely difficult
\nas most governments either provide no regular data on the problem
\nor use their own peculiar systems of measurement.<\/p>\n
The only widely accepted measure is one proposed by the World
\nBank, which sets one U.S. dollar per day per person as the
\nminimum income it considers necessary for a basic existence.<\/p>\n
Economists see this as a useful benchmark but say it is far
\ntoo high for very poor societies such as Indonesia or Bangladesh
\nand far too low for developed nations like South Korea or Taiwan.
\nBut the trend from all the statistics is clear.<\/p>\n
Since the Asian currency and economic crisis began a year ago,
\neconomic activity has slowed across large swathes of Asia,
\ncreating mass unemployment and hastening inflation.<\/p>\n
Almost everyone has been affected, but the millions living
\nclose to the poverty line have suffered worst.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian figures are staggering. As much as half the
\npopulation, or 100 million people, are now unable to buy 2,100
\ncalories of food a day per person, which the ILO sees as the
\nminimum requirement for an Asian diet.<\/p>\n
This is an increase of 60 million to 80 million from a year
\nago and the trend is still rising, it says.<\/p>\n
With four-fifths of the international value of the rupiah gone
\nin barely a year, Indonesian inflation has soared, taking even
\nbasic commodities beyond the reach of many ordinary people.<\/p>\n
The domestic price of rice has tripled, despite government
\nsubsidies, and other food imports have slowed to a trickle.<\/p>\n
Before the crisis, a building laborer in Java might expect to
\nearn 10,000 rupiah a day and send 100,000 a month back to his
\nfamily on a small-holding. But with the construction industry
\nalmost at a standstill, the family will probably get nothing.<\/p>\n
Worse still, the worker may return to his village still in the
\nthroes of drought caused by the El Nio weather phenomenon and
\ndrain further the family's meager resources.<\/p>\n
In Thailand, formerly far richer than Indonesia, poverty is
\nalmost as widespread. About a third of Thais live in poverty,
\nsays the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia (ESCAP).<\/p>\n
Using the World Bank guide, about 10 percent of Thailand's 60
\nmillion people has slipped into poverty since the baht was
\ndevalued in July 1997 and the economy moved into recession.
\nAs urban unemployment has grown towards three million, rural
\npoverty has deepened as less money is sent home from factory
\nworkers, maids, security guards and laborers in the cities.<\/p>\n
\"In the poor households you already have less savings, less
\nconsumption, more health problems and less education. It creates
\na poverty cycle. With less money, you can't pay for your
\nchildren's school, or for your mother's healthcare,\" said Kiran
\nPyakuryal, chief of rural development at ESCAP in Bangkok.<\/p>\n
Asia's other former \"Tiger\" economies have seen poverty grow
\ngradually but less dramatically as unemployment has crept up.
\nIn South Korea, unemployment has reached 7.6 percent of the
\nworkforce of 21 million, from around five percent a year ago.<\/p>\n
\"At present the people manage to persist and many of them can
\nlive on small savings, but if the situation continues, they
\ncannot survive,\" said Shin Myong-ho, of the independent Korea
\nCenter for City and Environment Research in Seoul.<\/p>\n
\"The unemployment rate will continue to rise. The government
\nis afraid the rate will reach eight percent by the end of this
\nyear and that rate means social unrest,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The Asian crisis has so far hit the giant populations of China
\nand South Asia less severely than Southeast Asia. But there too,
\nmore poverty will follow if the regional recession spreads.<\/p>\n
Even in Hong Kong, where unemployment has reached a 15-year
\nhigh of 4.8 percent, poverty is increasing.<\/p>\n
\"I definitely think more low-income families will be going
\nunder the poverty line because of the economic downturn,\" said Ho
\nHei-wah, of Hong Kong's Society for Community Organization.<\/p>\n
-- By Chris Johnson<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/asian-crisis-drags-100m-into-poverty-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }