By Correspondent.
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s poverty levels rose 30% in 2019, with urban poverty rising faster than rural poverty, a new survey shows.
The southern African country is still recovering from the shocks of cyclone Idai and El-Nino induced drought which characterised the 2018/19 cropping season resulting in crop failure, livestock and wildlife deaths.
In 2019, the country and other international organizations launched a revised humanitarian appeal amounting to US$331.5 million to address the humanitarian needs of 3.7 million people between the periods July 2019 to April 2020. This and among other issues has brought more pressure to the fiscus.
According to the, Mini-Poverty Income and Consumption Expenditure Survey (MPICES) 2019 and Poverty Trends 2017 – 2019 done by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) and World Bank shows that poverty levels increased between 2017 and 2019.
Extreme poverty (using the food poverty line) rose faster than general poverty.
Welfare dropped most among the poorest and most in urban areas. According to the survey, there was increase in proportion of extreme poor that are men. There was a slight drop in proportion of extreme poor that are 0-14 year-old while both are probably related to faster increase in urban poverty than rural poverty.
Coverage of social assistance rose five fold in urban areas 2017-2019 and 2.5 fold in rural areas.
WB Senior Economist Rob Swinkels – Poverty and Equity Global Practice said the government needs to stabilize the situation and prevent it from getting worse.
“Once poverty levels are stabilized, we can start talking about growing the country but at this stage it is a matter of how we can prevent a further slide and these are some of the things that are urgent. In addition, there is need to further expand some of the social safety nets, social assistance to those who do not have enough food and making sure that malnutrition of children is prevented.”
The mini-PICES 2019 offered a quick and low cost method for updating poverty indicators for urban and rural areas.
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