International conference on poverty alleviation in Kyiv
The Conference's participants called for an immediate response to resist further scaling up of poverty in Ukraine. The excellent progress the whole East European region has made in reducing poverty in the last ten years is now being threatened by growing uncertainties in the global economy, many experts say.
"These are manifesting themselves in building inflationary pressures, including in Ukraine,- particularly - food and energy prices and sharp slowdowns in economies as diverse as Kazakhstan, Turkey, Hungary, and the Baltic states," Kori Udovički, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Assistant Administrator, told the forum participants.
In Ukraine, despite robust economic growth which started in 2000, 28 per cent of people still live below the poverty line of UAH430 (USD90) per person a month, according to official statistics.
High inflation in 2008 and poverty patterns in Ukraine, as well as in most former Soviet countries, are different from those prevailing in other parts of the world. Here it exists against the background of developed industry, skilled labour force and relatively low unemployment.
For Ukraine poverty is a fairly new phenomenon, which originated from the re-distribution of resources during the country's historic transformations on the way to a market-based economy.
The conference took place within the UN-led public information campaign "Ukraine-2015", dedicated to the Millennium Development Goals in Ukraine. During the conference its participants watched a specially produced video PSA about poverty in Ukraine.
To play the video, please, hit the screen in the top-right corner. To get a copy of this video on DVD (in both Ukrainian and English), please, contact Sergiy Grytsenko at +380 44 254 00 35.
