During the 1990s, Pakistan's economic growth slowed down, the incidence of poverty became stagnated, and public debt accumulated rapidly.
Improving human development and governance, and mitigating the vulnerability of the poor were critical to restarting growth and reducing poverty, as the Pakistan Poverty Reduction Strategic Paper outlined.
The economy started recovering in 2001 and the momentum continues. In 2004, for example, the annual growth rate of real GDP rose by as much as 8.4% .
The extent of poverty reduction hasn't yet been determined; but preliminary analysis on the latest household survey, Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey (PSLM) (pdf, 718Kb), seems to suggest a sizable reduction in poverty.
The World Bank has been supporting the Government’s poverty reduction strategy by providing technical assistance and analytical work.
The Bank's support includes:
- Providing technical assistance to design and implement the Core Welfare Indicator Questionnaire (which constitutes a major part of PSLM), and to various studies to address gender gaps
- Providing Country Gender Assessment that examines economic opportunities in combination with cultural and social norms that determine outcomes for women
- Monitoring trends of poverty incidence and human development
The World Bank also prepared a A Preliminary Damage and Needs Assessment for livelihood in the areas affected by October 2005 earthquake and is currently helping the government provide cash grants in the affected areas. The Bank also led an initiative to launch RISEPAK, a new website to help coordinate emergency assistance and aid.
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Last Updated: 6/7/06
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