50% of Afghans live in poverty: advocacy advisor of NRC

KABUL (ToloNews): Becky Roby, advocacy adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council Afghanistan (NRC), quoted the World Bank, as saying that 50% of Afghan citizens live in poverty.

Officials of NRC in Afghanistan have assured that they will continue their support for the people of Afghanistan, especially women and children, under current conditions.

The advocacy adviser for NRC Afghanistan, said: “In addition to the emergency humanitarian assistance that we are providing, we start to prioritize long-term assistance and that helps people to find durable lasting solutions to the displacement.”

The World Food Programme has also added in its recent report that it has helped more than seven million people in Afghanistan in the past month.

Meanwhile, a number of economic analysts emphasized the continuation of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and considered delivering aid to needy families as important.

“Under current conditions, the level of unemployment and poverty in the country is high. In this situation, delivering humanitarian aid by the World Food Programme to the Afghan people and distributing it transparently to needy families is very essential,” said Mir Shekib Mir, an economic analyst.

“Despite many flaws and shortcomings, these aids can solve some of the people’s problems and reduce part of the poverty,” said Sayed Masood, an economic analyst.

The Ministry of Economy emphasized the continuation of aid in the country.

Abdul Latif Nazari, Deputy Minister of Economy, said, “Aid agencies can help improve the economic situation of Afghanistan in humanitarian and developmental dimensions by continuing their aid, and our request is that all international institutions continue their support.”

The World Food Programme statistics showed that nearly 16 million people in Afghanistan are facing food insecurity.