WB: POVERTY RATE REACHES 28.4% IN ARMENIA IN 2ND Q 2009

ARKA
NOVEMBER 17, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, November 17. /ARKA/. Lire Ersado, a senior economist at the
World Bank, told journalists on Tuesday that poverty rate rose 2.8
percentage points in Armenia in the second quarter 2009, compared
with the same period a year earlier.

He said referring to the WB preliminary study that poverty rose from
25.6% in the second quarter of 2008 to 28.4% a year later.

The number of the poor has grown by 90,000 people over the quarter.

Ersado said that extreme penury almost doubled in Armenia from 3.6%
to 6.9%.

The number of people living in extreme poverty grew by 107,000.

The WB expert, however, said that Armenian government and households
have taken effective steps to curb penury growth.

He thinks that otherwise poverty would grow 7.6%.