Poverty reduction policy goal surpassed in Laos

The developing South-East Asian nation of Laos is welcoming more of its households above the poverty line with more than 120,000 believed to have escaped deprivation in the past five years.

Poverty continues to afflict some 77,000 households, representing 6.6 percent of the nation's total number of 1.16 million.

Reducing the total number of households in poverty to less than 10 percent nationwide was a goal set by policymakers at the 9th Congress of the ruling Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) in 2011.

The number of districts officially classified as poor has also declined from the 53 reported in 2011 to 23, representing some 15. 5 percent of Laos total of 148 districts.

The figure was revealed in the five-year Poverty and Development Inspection and Assessment Report compiled by the country's National Leading Committee for Rural Development and Poverty Eradication and approved by the country's Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong.

The revelation comes as the World Bank announced a pledge to extend further support to Laos' Poverty Reduction Fund (PRF) for its next five-year that begins in 2017.

The fund has helped enable the development of important infrastructure such as gravity-fed water systems, dispensaries, artesian wells, schools, community roads and bridges, run-off- river reservoirs as well as human resource development in the form of teacher training. Endi