Economic constraints: Another 2.75m slip below poverty line
Staff Reporter :
Another 2.75 million Bangladeshis go below the poverty line this year because of the current food price inflation and economic slowdown indicating the poverty situation here worsened further.
Since 2020-21, the poverty situation in the country was higher than expected as the COVID constrained economic activity and reduced incomes.
A researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) shared the findings in a session yesterday at the Annual BIDS Conference on Development taking place at a city hotel.
The Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) organized the three-day event on the theme of “Development, Justice, and Freedom” which was started from Thursday.
Angga Pradesha, senior scientist in the Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit at the IFPRI said “The COVID-19 was the main driver of higher poverty in Bangladesh.
But world prices spike in 2022 directly raised the cost of living for many households (accounts for more of rising poverty than GDP losses).”
The senior researcher showed that 27.51 lakh more people fell into poverty in 2022 and among them majority of the people living in rural areas.
“A slowdown in the global economy in 2023 would set Bangladesh back even further,” he said, adding that poor population could increase by another 50,000 in Bangladesh because of the slowdown.
Angga also said the COVID pandemic reversed Bangladesh’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth trends in 2020. And the recovery slowed as world prices spiked in 2022.
“World price spikes are also more important for hunger than for GDP.
The COVID caused across-the-board income losses, whereas rising world prices directly raised food prices and reduced households’ food access,” he added.
Recovery may be further hampered by a slowdown in the global economy in 2023, he expressed.
The IFPRI scientist estimated that the undernourishment worsened in all countries in 2022.
In case of Bangladesh, an additional 3.1 million people suffered from undernourishment. The number could rise to 3.3 million at the end of 2023.
