Migrant Workers Rescue Families From Poverty
Migrant Workers Rescue Families From Poverty
While the Tajik government claims that gross domestic product growth has reduced poverty levels, but NBCentralAsia analysts say that the economy is still floundering and most families are supported by remittances from migrant workers abroad.
On September 4, the deputy minister of economic development and trade, Abdughafor Rahmonov, said the number of people living below the poverty line had fallen seven percentage points to 57 per cent of the population within the past three years due to a growth in gross domestic product, GDP.
The gauge of poverty is any household that has an income of less than two US dollars a day per person.
International experts will now conduct an independent study of 5,000 households, according to Vladimir Kolchin, a World Bank representative in Tajikistan who has helped develop the national poverty reduction strategy.
Unlike previous surveys, this one will try to determine labour migration levels and how much access people have to medical services and education.
The government’s poverty reduction strategy was launched in 1999, when 83 per cent of the population was below the poverty line. The aim is to bring the figure down to 32 per cent by 2015.
NBCentralAsia experts say living standards probably have got better over the past three years, but they argue that the improvement is attributable to remittances sent by labour migrants abroad rather than real economic growth.
Economist Hojimuhammad Umarov says rising living standards have nothing to do with the domestic economy, and around 85 per cent of most families’ income comes from migrant remittances.
According to official figures, there are around 400,000 people from Tajikistan working abroad, although independent estimates put the real figure closer to 1.5 million.
A economic analyst who asked to remain anonymous explained that it is only these migrants who are preventing the bulk of the population falling into extreme poverty. He estimates that five per cent of the population count as very wealthy, 30 per cent constitute a middle class and the rest are below the poverty line.
“It isn’t plausible to talk about poverty reduction when GDP per capita throughout Tajikistan averages less than 400 dollars a year”, he said.
Apart from remittances, NBCentralAsia analyst Firuz Saidov sees another contributory factor in the falling poverty level – the informal market where up to 93 per cent of domestic trade is conducted.
Finally, he notes that public-sector wages have gone up twice this year, although he thinks this has had only a limited impact on reducing poverty.
(NBCentralAsia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region)
On September 4, the deputy minister of economic development and trade, Abdughafor Rahmonov, said the number of people living below the poverty line had fallen seven percentage points to 57 per cent of the population within the past three years due to a growth in gross domestic product, GDP.
The gauge of poverty is any household that has an income of less than two US dollars a day per person.
International experts will now conduct an independent study of 5,000 households, according to Vladimir Kolchin, a World Bank representative in Tajikistan who has helped develop the national poverty reduction strategy.
Unlike previous surveys, this one will try to determine labour migration levels and how much access people have to medical services and education.
The government’s poverty reduction strategy was launched in 1999, when 83 per cent of the population was below the poverty line. The aim is to bring the figure down to 32 per cent by 2015.
NBCentralAsia experts say living standards probably have got better over the past three years, but they argue that the improvement is attributable to remittances sent by labour migrants abroad rather than real economic growth.
Economist Hojimuhammad Umarov says rising living standards have nothing to do with the domestic economy, and around 85 per cent of most families’ income comes from migrant remittances.
According to official figures, there are around 400,000 people from Tajikistan working abroad, although independent estimates put the real figure closer to 1.5 million.
A economic analyst who asked to remain anonymous explained that it is only these migrants who are preventing the bulk of the population falling into extreme poverty. He estimates that five per cent of the population count as very wealthy, 30 per cent constitute a middle class and the rest are below the poverty line.
“It isn’t plausible to talk about poverty reduction when GDP per capita throughout Tajikistan averages less than 400 dollars a year”, he said.
Apart from remittances, NBCentralAsia analyst Firuz Saidov sees another contributory factor in the falling poverty level – the informal market where up to 93 per cent of domestic trade is conducted.
Finally, he notes that public-sector wages have gone up twice this year, although he thinks this has had only a limited impact on reducing poverty.
(NBCentralAsia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region)
