Many Asians poor despite economic boom<\/p>\n
By Martin Walker<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON: More than two-thirds of the world's poorest people
\nstill live in east Asia, despite the economic miracle which has
\ncut the proportion of people in the region subsisting on a dollar
\na day or less from 60 percent in 1975 to 20 percent, the World
\nBank reported Wednesday.<\/p>\n
In two reports which examine the dark side of east Asia's
\neconomic transformation, the World Bank notes that inequality is
\nbecoming more widespread, and warned that the region's
\nachievements are at dire risk from the banking crisis now
\nafflicting Thailand and Malaysia.<\/p>\n
The sheer pace of growth has sharpened the social problem of
\nthe widening gap between rich and poor, suggests the new World
\nBank report \"Everyone's Miracle?\"<\/p>\n
One of the key features of this inequality is the growing gap
\nin earning power between skilled and unskilled workers in
\nincreasingly sophisticated economies. Across Asia, the Bank says,
\n\"the rate of increase of demand for skilled workers has
\noutstripped the rate of supply, raising earnings differentials
\nacross many occupations\".<\/p>\n
\"The bank salutes the strong growth of the Asian economies in
\nrecent years\", commented Gautam Kaji, the Bank's managing
\ndirector for operations. \"But we worry about the hundreds of
\nmillions of Asians who still live in absolute poverty and who
\nlack the education and other resources that would allow them to
\ntake part in the growth process and escape from poverty\".<\/p>\n
After a stunning period of regional growth which has seen
\ninternational investors looking for opportunities in Asia rather
\nthan considering aid, the Bank says: \"There is a consistent
\npattern of poverty throughout the region, mainly effecting rural
\nand agricultural communities where people typically have little
\neducation and few prospects for alternative employment\".<\/p>\n
The Bank, which has faced sharp criticism from non-government
\ndevelopment agencies and environmental groups for its traditional
\nfocus on big and prestige projects, is now stressing village-
\nscale rural development, education and health projects. It notes
\nthat ninety per cent of the poor in Vietnam and Laos and around
\ntwo-thirds of the poor in Thailand and Philippines live in rural
\nareas.<\/p>\n
Although poverty has been virtually eradicated in the \"tiger
\neconomies\" of Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea and
\nhas declined dramatically elsewhere, the Bank says that as many
\nas 350 millions should still be counted among the poorest of the
\nworld's poor. In particular, they are concentrated in the new
\nemerging economies of Cambodia, China, Laos, Mongolia and
\nVietnam, and in India, where a third of the population is still
\nclassified as poor.<\/p>\n
\"Because of rapid population growth, India's modest success in
\nfighting poverty has been unable to reduce the overall numbers of
\npoor. In 1951, 164 million Indians were living in poverty,
\ncompared with 312 million in 1993-94\", the bank claims in a
\nseparate report, \"India: achievements and challenges in reducing
\npoverty'.<\/p>\n
\"India has not yet achieved the momentum to lift the great
\nmajority of its poor into the country's economic mainstream. For
\nexample, its infant mortality rates are one of the highest in the
\nworld, and a third of India 6-10 year olds are not in school\",
\nsays Zoubida Allaoua, the Bank's senior economist who wrote the
\nreport. \"For India, the lessons of the future are clear: promote
\ngrowth and invest much more money in making people healthier and
\nbetter educated, and spend more on the physical infrastructure
\nwhich underpins a country's growth at the local and national
\nlevel\".<\/p>\n
If India can maintain the kind of 6 per cent annual GDP growth
\nit enjoyed over the pat three years, the incidence of poverty
\ncould drop sharply from 35 percent to barely six percent over the
\nnext eight years, he adds. \"This would be a tremendous
\nachievement for a country which is home to the largest
\nconcentration of poor in the world\".<\/p>\n
-- The Guardian<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/many-asians-poor-despite-economic-boom-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }