Senators alarmed as poverty rate rises

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AT-KABUL: Increasing poverty and unemployment has made senators concerned, who said that people have become helpless and the government has failed to hold resolving programs.

Alam Izadyar, deputy head of senate said Monday that poverty and joblessness are two major problems after insecurity, arguing these problems had caused other social challenges.

“Poverty and joblessness have directly affected people and have caused more insecurity and more people are fleeing the country. This has caused mistrust to government and its policies, so it has raised our serious concerns as well,” Izadyar said.

The statistics department said in a report that joblessness has reached 24 per cent, while it was 22 per cent in the past. It added that poverty had increased to 54 per cent from 38 per cent.

The report has interviewed 21,000 families in 34 provinces and says that 41 per cent of the jobless are women, while men make up 18 per cent.

The World Bank has confirmed the report, saying that half of the Afghan population lives below the poverty line. It called the report as the “serious image of a reality” in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, ministry of economy said the report would help it take necessary measures in different sectors. It added that it was not easy to eradicate poverty, but was possible in long-term programs.

“We have to concentrate on the domestic products. The goods that are possible to be produced inside the country, should not be imported. This helps economic growth and when our economy grows up, poverty and joblessness decrease,” said the ministry’s spokesman, Sohrab Bahman.

He added that works on infrastructure were done and the government planned to increase economic growth to six per cent.

Economic experts believe that good governance, economic and development programs, agricultural programs and attracting investments would help remove poverty and joblessness.