A regional perspective on poverty in Myanmar - United Nations ...

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Poverty in Myanmar 36 Bago Bago Land holding Underemployment gap Losses from calamities Poverty rate 10 8 6 4 2 0 Poverty decline Poverty gap PPI Loans Poverty inertia Utilities share Food share Inequality Bago (East) Land holding Underemployment gap Losses from calamities Poverty rate 10 8 6 4 2 0 Poverty decline Poverty gap PPI Loans Poverty inertia Utilities share Food share Inequality
Poverty in Myanmar 37 Bago (West) Land holding Underemployment gap Losses from calamities Poverty rate 10 8 6 4 2 0 Poverty decline Poverty gap PPI Loans Poverty inertia Utilities share Food share Inequality 22 Bago’s radar chart, especially Bago (East), is very unbalanced. Overall, Bago has been an underperformer in poverty reduction, though it has been better than average at poverty alleviation. Its comparatively high prices especially indicate inefficiently functioning local markets, onto which the Government would have to put emphasis. Given Bago’s proximity to Yangon, such discrepancies should not occur. Better functioning markets require both, improved institutions (including the regulatory environment and competition laws), and a higher density of businesses of reasonable size. If the government managed to improve this, it is also likely that employment would be created and poverty decreased: such business environment could exploit the high fluctuation of poverty in Bago, helping to reduce the entry into poverty by vulnerable people, and thus reducing overall poverty. Food and utilities are very expensive, which is another sign of market imperfections. The loan burden is surprisingly diverse: while poor households in the West are very little burdened by loans, households in the East appear to be highly indebted, perpetuating poverty. The payment of unproductive interest rates will not allow the affected households to escape poverty. In social terms, this might lead to conflict. It is necessary to check the reasons for this high indebtedness beyond the means of this household survey. Note that Microfinance programmes are neither active in the East nor in the West, so easier access to credit should not be the reason. The sad picture for Bago (East) is confirmed by the high over-employment of the people (i.e., a low ranking): as it appears, wages and returns are so low that people need to work over-proportionally hard to make a living. This means as well, that productivity increases are a must in Bago (East), and/or that local exploitative behaviour through low wages need to be addressed. The high median landholding sizes and the low losses from calamities speak for some additional efforts for agricultural development in the East: only 2% of production is lost annually, and the risks and the problems faced by farmers are rather diversified. As each farmer knows best the individual 22 This chapter’s recommendations draw on the work of Nick Maddock, U San Thein, Dolly Kyaw, and Khin pwint oo
Page 1 and 2: A regional <strong
Page 3 and 4: Poverty in Myanmar 3 Mandalay......
Page 5 and 6: Poverty in Myanmar 5 electricity an
Page 7 and 8: Count Poverty in Myanmar 7 The stat
Page 9 and 10: Poverty in Myanmar 9 Figure 4: Pove
Page 11 and 12: Poverty in Myanmar 11 Mother tongue
Page 13 and 14: Poverty in Myanmar 13 Figure 6: Pov
Page 15 and 16: Poverty in Myanmar 15 From purely f
Page 17 and 18: Poverty in Myanmar 17 Figure 14: Gr
Page 19 and 20: Poverty in Myanmar 19 Table 10: Ave
Page 21 and 22: Poverty in Myanmar 21 Table 11: Tra
Page 23 and 24: Poverty in Myanmar 23 among male: o
Page 25 and 26: Poverty in Myanmar 25 All household
Page 27 and 28: Poverty in Myanmar 27 Table 16: Mos
Page 29 and 30: Poverty in Myanmar 29 Conclusion: p
Page 31 and 32: Poverty in Myanmar 31 Second Part D
Page 33 and 34: Poverty in Myanmar 33 The poverty i
Page 35: Poverty in Myanmar 35 One of the st
Page 39 and 40: Poverty in Myanmar 39 Chin Land hol
Page 41 and 42: Poverty in Myanmar 41 Magway Land h
Page 43 and 44: Poverty in Myanmar 43 Mandalay Land
Page 45 and 46: Poverty in Myanmar 45 Mon Land hold
Page 47 and 48: Poverty in Myanmar 47 Shan Shan Lan
Page 49 and 50: Poverty in Myanmar 49 utilities div
Page 51: Poverty in Myanmar 51 Final remarks

A regional perspective on poverty in Myanmar - United Nations ...

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