Minister welcomes poverty report
MoFT Minister Hon. Manasseh Sogavare delivers his remarks.
THE Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Minister for Finance and Treasury was really impressed with the outcome of the first-ever report of the Solomon Islands Poverty Maps based on the 2012/13 Household Income and Expenditure Survey and the 2009 Population and Housing Census.
Manasseh Sogavare made the statement when officially launched the report on Monday at Honiara Hotel.
“I am personally overwhelmed by the outcome of this innovative project. The production of this report and the user-friendly maps portraying poverty rates at ward level is indeed a statistical and development milestone for our country and our people,”
he said.
He said the report is an important poverty mapping project which implemented by the National Statistics Office (NSO) under my Ministry, in collaboration with the World Bank and the Government of Australia.
Sogavare said the report and the maps complements and adds value to the poverty report of 2016 that was launched by the former Minister of Finance in mid-2016.
“In that report, poverty was estimated down to the provincial level only due to survey sampling limitations.
“However, in this work, and for the first time, innovative methodology was applied to overcome this and combine data from both a survey, i.e., the 2012/13 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) and the 2009 Census, to enable the estimation of small area or ward level poverty and inequality rates,” he added.
He said on behalf of the Government and as a Minister responsible for National Statistic (NSO), it is a milestone achievement for the nation especially as it is done in a timely period.
“This report is another significant statistical milestone for the nation and as you may be aware, the finding of this report is timely, as in less than 12 months from now, the country will be heading to the national elections in early 2019,” he reiterated.
By IAN M.KAUKUI, Solomon Star News
