Kabul \u2013 December 1 (Online): The United Nations said on Wednesday that a program to pay $300 million a year in cash to Afghan families with children, elderly or people with disabilities is the best way to target increasing poverty.<\/p>\n
In what the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) described as an “alarming” socio-economic outlook for Afghanistan for the next 13 months, it also pushed a $100 million “cash for work” project to boost employment and $90 million in small business payments.<\/p>\n
“This will be probably the best shot at halting this massive collapse into near universal poverty,” UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Kanni Wignaraja, told Reuters.<\/p>\n
As Afghanistan struggles with a sharp drop in international development aid after the Taliban seized power in mid-August, an economy and banking system on the brink of collapse, the COVID-19 pandemic and severe drought, UNDP has projected that poverty may become nearly universal by mid 2022 – affecting more than 90 percent of the country’s 39 million people.<\/p>\n
The U.N. World Food Programme has said 22.8 million people are facing acute food insecurity. UNDP set up a special trust fund in October, with a 50 million euros ($58 million) pledge from Germany, to provide urgently needed cash directly to Afghans. So far, the fund has received pledges for $170 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kabul \u2013 December 1 (Online): The United Nations said on Wednesday that a program to pay $300 million a year in cash to Afghan families with children, elderly or people with disabilities is the best way to target increasing poverty. In what the U.N. Development […]<\/p>\n
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