Economists question govt’s poverty data
Economists have cast doubt over new statistics issued by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), which claimed a substantial decrease in poverty in the country. The CBS report last week showed decrease in the poverty rate by six percent pushing down the poverty level to 25 percent.
Speaking at a face-to-face programme organised in the Capital on Saturday, economist Chiranjivi Nepal said the statistics about decrease in the percentage of poverty are difficult to believe, especially in the context of increasing inflation. He also said that the government statistics now consider a family with a daily income of over Rs 53 as ‘rich’.
He said any statistics made public without determining clear parameters of measuring level of poverty would only mislead the people. Another economist Chandramani Adhikari echoed Nepal. He claimed that the CBS data on the reduction of poverty was not reliable in light of the findings of the UNDP survey on the topic. He added that the UNDP report based on the survey showed the poverty level in Nepal at 65 percent.
He argued that poverty should be measured in terms of education and health indicators whereas the CBS adopted a wrong process of measuring poverty on the basis of calorie.
Vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission Dipendra Bahadur Chhetri, however, defended the statistics released by the CBS saying it was gathered in a scientific way. He put forth the logic that the level of poverty has decreased due to increase in wage and remittance.
Posted on: 2011-10-30 08:42
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