Global slowdown threatens poverty reduction target

Global slowdown threatens poverty reduction target

BANGKOK (AFP): The threat of a global slowdown could imperil
the United Nations' ambitious goal of halving the ranks of Asia's
poor by 2015, the regional chief of the UN Development Program
(UNDP) said on Wednesday.

To meet the target set by world leaders at the UN's Millennium
Summit last year, 25 to 30 million people must be lifted out of
poverty annually in Asia over the next decade and a half.

"We believe it is an achievable target," said Haviz Pasha, the
newly appointed director of the UNDP's Asia-Pacific operations.
"But if regional growth falls to 2.5-3.0 percent instead of 5.0
percent, then the momentum of poverty reduction will be
reversed ... Growth is a necessary, if not sufficient conditions
for poverty reduction."

The former Pakistani finance minister said South Asia remained
particularly vulnerable to external shocks, along with parts of
Southeast Asia including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and possibly the
Philippines and Thailand.

The Bangkok-based UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia
and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) said earlier this month that setbacks
in the United States and Japan could wipe 2.0 percentage points
off regional growth rates.

Forecasts prepared late last year pointing to an average 6.0
percent GDP expansion for Asia's developing nations this year
were already outdated and "too rosy", it said.

Pasha said a number of factors would have to fall into place
if significant inroads were to be made in reducing poverty -- the
number one goal of the UN's largest agency.

Apart from a favorable global environment, country-level
efforts would need to be supported by the international community
in terms of access to markets, technology and foreign investment,
he said.

Any back-tracking on agreements for foreign aid, or overseas
development assistance (ODA), during tough economic times would
be a major blow for the "poorest of the poor" who struggle to
live on a dollar a day.

"ODA could begin to falter because of the recession, say in
Japan. Japan is a major donor and already the internal political
constituency there is beginning to move away from foreign aid,"
he said.

However, a major weapon in the UNDP's armory is the political
endorsement handed down at last September's Millennium Summit.
"It was a very very strong endorsement which gives us the
legitimacy and the kind of support we need to be able to actually
aggressively push this ahead," Pasha said.
"Everything has to come together -- in that case then certainly
we can do it."

The UNDP chief said that if the slowing global economy puts
more pressure on poor countries, the agency may explore an
"expanded debt relief program for the lower end of the spectrum
of developed countries."

"What we are arguing for is not unconditional debt relief but
debt relief which releases resources for social development and
poverty reduction. There has to be a well-defined link," he said.

Other strategies already in place are land reform, micro-
lending schemes and community empowerment projects which
encourage people to have a say in the management of their slim
resources.