DUSHANBE, January 30, 2013, Asia-Plus — The official poverty statistics show a noticeable decline in the poverty rate in Tajikistan.
The poverty rate is on a sustainable downward trend in Tajikistan and in 2012, the country’s poverty rate decreased to 38.3 percent, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Sharif Rahimzoda, told journalists on January 29.
According to him, the government is taking measures to increase the stratum of middle-income people in Tajik society.
“We should determine our criterion for middle class,” said the minister. “The World bank has its criterion for income groups. Of course, we compare our country with neighboring countries. In Kazakhstan, for example, representatives of the middle class include people having higher education, a private house, a car, a deposit account at a bank and who have the rest abroad at least once a year. We have not yet determined our criterion for the middle class.”
According to data of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT), the poverty rate is on a sustainable downward trend in Tajikistan. The Tajik poverty rate reportedly decreased from 50 percent in 2008 to 46.7 percent in 2009, 45 percent in 2010, 41 percent in 2011 and 38.3 percent in 2012.
