Govt to Stop Mapping Poverty Until 2023

The Ministry of Planning and Development has announced that issuing poverty figures and mapping poverty in the country has been suspended until 2023. This was revealed by the ministry in a written reply presented in a session of the Senate today (Friday, 12 November). It was revealed that no poverty index mapping has been conducted in the country after the year 2018-2019, and the ministry confirmed in its written reply that it does not have the latest figures. It added that Pakistan’s poverty rate in 2018-2019 was 21.9 percent, and 24.3 percent in 2015. It decreased to 2.4 percent in 2017-2018 as compared to 2015-2016. The survey was conducted in 2018-19, and the plan to conduct poverty mapping and indexing has been postponed to 2023-24, the Minister for Planning, Asad Umar, said in the written reply. The survey of 2019-19 revealed that 21.9 percent of the population was living below the poverty line. The ministry claims that it is expected that poverty will be reduced by two points in the annual plan for 2021-2022 because of the Ehsaas Kifalat program.