Conflicts, feeble policies pushing poverty to edge
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In Myanmar, conflicts, feeble policies and unproductive agribusiness have pushed poverty to the edge, according to World Bank's report "Ending Poverty and Boosting Shared Prosperity in Myanmar.''
Land grabs, climate disorder, weak rural infrastructure and lack of access to market also make the situation even messier.
It identifies three groups of poor in Myanmar: traditional poor, transitional poor and excluded poor.
Traditional poor are heavily concentrated in rural areas, have very low levels of education, depend on agriculture for their livelihood, have limited access to key productive assets and factors like land and finance.
Transitional poor, many of whom live in urban and peri-urban areas, have transitioned out of traditional rural livelihoods but still work as low-skill casual labourers.
Excluded poor are socially-marginalised and this status bars them from accessing opportunities for success.
The causes of poverty for each of these groups are many – some that are common to all of them as well as some are specific to each group.
According to proximity in 2010, there was the poverty rate of 37.5 per cent including the 40 perc ent grassroots of total population.
The poor are mostly situated in rural area with 76 per cent of the poor living in conflict-affected area.
The poverty rates are 71 per cent in Chin State and 78 per cent in Rakhine State and both of them are home to ethnic minorities.
Urban poverty rate is 34.6 per cent and higher than expected.
