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| Kenya's poverty rate drops by 10 percentage points |
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Poverty rate in Kenya has dropped in the last decade by 10 percentage points to 46 percent from 56 percent in 1997 mainly due to improved economic environment, senior officials said here Thursday Apr 26.
Urban poverty rate recorded the sharpest decline, from 51.5 percent to 33.7 percent, according to the result of a survey conducted on 13,430 households published here by the country's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
Planning Minister Henry Obwocha said the massive decline in poverty rate is mainly due to consistent economic growth over the last four years, decreasing the national dependency ratio and enabling 2.3 million people to escape the poverty trap.
Obwocha said the drop in national poverty average saved the 2.3 million people, but these were still at high risk of regressing unless the country maintained a consistent economic growth rate of 6 percent over the next few years.
"Poverty in Kenya is still a rural phenomenon. In addition, poverty is still largely a rural phenomenon, although there are large pockets of poverty in the urban areas," said the minister.
"The major finding is that poverty is on a declining trend in Kenya and the risk of falling into poverty is lower today than in the 1990s," said the survey that followed spending patterns of 13, 430 households all over the country.
Kenya has for a long time been labeled as having high poverty rate, however, the survey now shows that the Economic Recovery Strategy reforms put in place by the government and equitable distribution of resources has pulled 2 million people out of poverty.
The survey shows glaring disparities in access to financial resources between the urban and rural population.
Kenya's economy grew at about 6 percent in 2006, up from the 5. 8 percent in 2005 and has been on an upward trend since President Mwai Kibaki took office in 2002 when growth was at 0.6 percent, thanks to economic reforms.
But critics say the economy would have performed better if the government had made more efforts in fighting corruption.
Source: Xinhua
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