By Thomas Dixon
FREETOWN, Aug 10 (SALONE TIMES) – Sierra Leone Economic Outlook 2021 Report done by the World Bank revealed that there is a slight increase of poverty in Sierra Leone than it was in 2018 with the capital, Freetown seen 11.4% increment in Poverty.
According to the report, the COVID restrictions put in place to contain the spread of the disease, as well as the downturn in the global economy have led to a small increase in poverty, reversing the previous trend of poverty reduction.
“Using data from a large household survey conducted by the World Food Program in November/December 2020, and a model of household welfare constructed using the 2018 Sierra Leone Integrated Household Survey, poverty is imputed to have increased from 56.8 percent in 2018 to 58.9 percent in 2020,” the report stated.
That although the increase is not actually statistically significant, but that in the absence of COVID19, poverty was expected to continue to decline.
That estimates of the change in
poverty based solely on GDP growth projections predict an even smaller increase in poverty, to 57.7 percent.
The report continued that urban areas, particularly the capital city, Freetown, have seen the largest increase in poverty as it is estimated to have increased from 17.7 percent in 2018 to 29.1 percent in 2020.
That in other urban areas, the increase was much smaller, from 45.2 percent to 46.3 percent, and in rural areas there was essentially no change, poverty is estimated to have declined from 71.5 percent to 71.0 percent.
That by province, the increase in poverty was largest in Western Area (which is dominated by Freetown and the surrounding urban area), followed by the Northwest where poverty increased from 62.3 percent to 67.1 percent which includes the area around the international airport, the main overland trade route to Conakry, and the location of the iron mine closed by the dispute with SL Mining.
