POVERTY ON THE DECLINE

Continued from page 1 perity, make homes, construct real lasting infrastructure, teach our kids optimally, maintain the health of citizens and provide a safe ambience while doing all of the above. All the above was not only multisectoral but a multidimensional approach to combat poverty. The Statistical Institute of Belize saw the opportunity to measure poverty using the data that such an approach would yield.

Today, March it is Women’s Month. To that point, the data show that women-led households show a lesser rate of poverty than men-led households. The debate can begin.

Release:

Multidimensional Poverty Index to Complement Monetary Poverty Measurement in Belize

March 8, 2023 – The Statistical Institute of Belize today presented its findings on the country’s first Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) study. This study, conducted as a part of the September 2021 Labour Force Survey, was carried out with technical and financial support from the United Nations Children’s Fund, United Nations Development Programme, the Oxford Poverty and

Human Development Initiative, and the Caribbean Development Bank. While poverty has been traditionally measured in monetary terms, it has become increasingly recognized that this method alone is insufficient to capture the wide range of deprivations that characterize the experience of poverty and the various ways in which it is manifested. The MPI is a complementary measure to monetary poverty, measuring poverty as an accumulation of concurrent deprivations across various dimensions of well-being, including Health, Education, Employment, and Living Standards. Within these four dimensions, a total of 17 indicators are used to measure deprivation. These indicators were selected in consultation with a cross-section of stakeholders who participated in an MPI Steering Committee.

Data from the MPI study provides an indication of both the incidence (what percent of the population is multidimensionally poor) and the intensity (what percent of the 17 indicators poor households were deprived in) of multidimensional poverty. The product of these two percentages is the national Multidimensional Poverty Index.

The results of the September 2021 MPI study revealed that 35.7 percent of the population in Belize lived in households that were multidimensionally poor. On average, these households were found to be deprived in 39 percent of the 17 indicators measured. The national MPI for September 2021 was 0.139.

Cabinet Brief

Belmopan. 9th March, 2023.

The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Hon. John Briceño, met on 7th March 2023.

• Cabinet received a report from the Ministerial Consulting Team that has been engaged in meetings with the Joint Unions on the important issues of Increments and Pension Reform. Following the report, Cabinet agreed on the following:

1. Increments for all public officers and teachers would be unfrozen effective 1st April 2023.

2. The Ministerial Team would continue discussions with the Joint Unions Negotiating Team (JUNT) on the matter of the two increment points lost. Those discussions would be based on specific economic performance targets in the fiscal year 2024/25 and beyond.

3. The government will implement a phased approach to the Public Sector Pension Reform. In phase one, the goal is to institute, effective 1st July 2023, a new contributory pension scheme applicable only to new entrants into the Belize Public Service. Phase two will include a comprehensive review of the existing Public Service Pension Scheme to determine how to make it more effective, efficient and sustainable. For this purpose, a working group will be established, including the government, JUNT, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize, GAMAS, and the private sector.

• After hearing presentations from the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association (BSCFA) and BSI/ASR, Cabinet has decided to convene a Commission of Inquiry to examine the modernization of the sugar cane industry and improve its viability

Across the districts, the highest levels of multidimensional poverty were seen in the Toledo district, while the Belize district had the lowest. Persons living in rural communities were more likely to be multidimensionally poor than those in urban areas, with the incidence of multidimensional poverty in rural communities being double that of urban ones. Additionally, the country’s younger population, larger households, households with children, households with a head who was either unemployed or underemployed and households with a head who had completed only up to a primary level of education or none at all were more likely to be multidimensionally poor. Higher levels of multidimensional poverty were also seen among male-headed households than among households headed by females.

The data for measuring multidimensional poverty in Belize will be collected each year as part of the September round of the Labour Force Survey and these estimates will be compiled annually, providing valuable data to measure multidimensional poverty in Belize and to monitor the country’s progress in reducing poverty over time. This data will also help to provide a more comprehensive understanding of poverty in Belize, enabling policymakers to design more targeted and effective poverty reduction strategies.

Founder: Rt. Hon. George Cadle Price, People’s United Party Leader Emeritus OFFICE