South Africa has the Best Reduction of poverty among Emerging Countries

A África do Sul tem mais sucesso do que outros países emergentes como o Brasil, México, Argentina ou Indonésia na hora de reduzir a pobreza mediante políticas fiscais, conforme um estudo publicado na última segunda-feira (3) pelo BM (Banco Mundial) em Pretória.

According to a study published last Monday (3) through the World Bank in Pretória, South Africa has more success compared to other emerging countries like Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, or Indonesia when it comes to reducing poverty through fiscal policy.

This article was originally translated from Portuguese.  Click here to read more from RFI.

The study signals that more than three million South Africans left poverty thanks to the application of social benefits from money raised in imports in 2010 and 2011, a period in which this country of 54 million habitants reduced its level of income inequality by one quarter.

In this period and through the redistribution of wealth, 3.6 million South Africans overcame the barrier of R $6 (US $2.5) per day and the rate of extreme poverty (less than R $3 per day, according to the indicators by the World Bank) fell from 34% to 16.5%.

These numbers put South Africa at the top of the list in the fight against poverty through fiscal instruments, in front of the other countries analyzed by the World Bank in the study (Brazil, Bolivia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay) with similar economic characteristics. However, the South African society records the highest coefficient of social inequality of all the countries cited.

"Although South Africa has a very effective usage of its fiscal instruments, the original problems of income inequality are so great that they are going to need other means to solve them," said an economist from the World Bank, Catriona Purfield, in a presentation of the study cited by the local press.

She added that "to raise the challenges of poverty and of inequality in a world where the fiscal resources are more limited demands a more inclusive and rapid economic growth, better jobs and more efficient public services."

After 20 years of the end of the dominance of the white minority, that excluded the black majority from higher education and skilled jobs, South Africa continues being one of the countries with the highest index of inequality in the world. More than 25% of its citizens are unemployed, a percentage that has elevated more than 50% among the youth. After having registered since 1995 an annual average growth of 3.2%, the economists predict that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country will reach 1.4% this year.

This article was translated by  Erica Kliment, Staff Intern with the Brazil Institute at the Wilson Center. '

Photo courtesy of World Bank Photo Collection via Flickr Commons