Number of ‘new poor’ increases in the country
The number of ‘new poor’ has increased amid Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
Speakers revealed the information at a regional policy webinar titled “Covid-19 Crisis and Social Protection Challenges: Urban and the New Poor” organized by Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) on Thursday, said a media release on Friday.
In the webinar speakers said much of the impact of the Covid-19 crisis has been in the urban settings. Historically, urban share of social assistance has been distinctly lower with the rural-urban gap on average in South Asia being 9.8 per cent (in Bangladesh it is 15 per cent).
The Covid-19 impact has thrust need for urban social protection into the spotlight. PPRC-BIGD study identified four urban vulnerabilities: earnings uncertainty of informal occupations, rising non-food expenditure burdens (98 per cent rise between March 2020 and March 2021), eroded financial coping capacity, and the unaddressed ‘new poor’, said the release.
Dr. Shamsul Alam, member, GED (Senior Secretary), Planning Commission, Ugo Gentiliny, World Bank’s Global Lead on Social Assistance, Usha Mishra, chief of social policy, UNICEF, Nepal, Qazi Azmat Isa, CEO of Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund and Asif Saleh, Executive Director, BRAC Bangladesh spoke among others.
PPRC Executive Chairman Hossain Zillur Rahman moderated the webinar.
Asif Saleh pointed out the ‘new poor’ are not a homogeneous category and ‘one size fits all’ approach will not work.