KARACHI, 25 April 2004 — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a Technical Assistance (TA) grant of $400,000 for Pakistan to research the determinants and drivers of poverty reduction and the bank’s contribution in rural areas of the country.
According to a statement of ADB, the TA will be administered by ADB and financed on a grant basis from the Poverty Reduction Cooperation Fund. The bank observed that rural poverty rose sharply in Pakistan in 1990s , while the rural-urban gap in social indicators also increased significantly. Researchers have found that rural poor lack access to adequate land, water and finance, have little human capital and have limited job opportunities in rural areas.
Against this background, the bank said that the research seeks to not only identify the major determinants of the rural poverty, but to also propose recommendations in designing the most effective rural poverty reduction interventions by the government, ADB and other development agencies.
