Ethiopia is on the right track to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in poverty reduction, the World Bank said.

Speaking at the launching of an Interim Report of the Household Income Consumption and Expenditure Surveys (HICES) on Friday in Addis Ababa, Lead Economist with World Bank Ethiopia, Chorching Goh said the poverty reduction strategy and policy designed by the government is registering successful results.

Goh said Ethiopia will join the list of middle income countries through ensuring sustainability of the results registered so far.

He stressed the need to give prime attention to ensuring food security in rural parts of the country where most of the population lives as this helps towards growth of productivity.

Activities carried out to reduce poverty in urban and rural areas during the past couple of years were encouraging, Goh said, adding, in particular the activities undertaken in urban areas helped to bring about change.

Associate Prof. with the Addis Ababa University, Dr. Tassew Woldehanna for his part said the survey indicates that the country is on the right track to reducing poverty by half and achieving the MDGs.

Dr. Tassew, who is also consultant of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, said the survey covered almost all rural and urban areas of the country and is based on a sample size of 27,830 households.

Results of the 2010/2011 HICES data analysis showed that the proportion of poor people (poverty head count index) in the country is 29.6 per cent. This shows a marked decline in poverty from its level in 2004/05, which stood at 38.7 per cent.

The analysis also showed that poverty has declined both in rural and urban areas. The proportion of the population below the poverty line stood at 30.4 per cent in rural areas and 25.7 per cent in urban areas in 2010/11.

In 2004/05 rural poverty was 39.3 per cent while urban poverty has declined by ten per cent from the previous 35.1 per cent.

According to the report, the significant decline in rural and urban poverty is an indication that Ethiopia is now in a position to achieve the MDG target of reducing poverty by half.

The report was made official in the presence of members of the House of People’s Representatives, First Lady Azeb Mesfin, ambassadors and development partners.

Source: Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency (ERTA)

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