Analyst claims government changed method for measuring poverty
By Messenger Staff
Wednesday, March 19
As President Mikheil Saakashvili tries to fulfill an election pledge to create a “Georgia without poverty,” an expert claims that the government’s method of calculating the extent of poverty in Georgia has changed.
The government’s Statistics Departments uses the cost of a typical grocery basket of some forty everyday items to calculate the minimum living wage. The Health Ministry says that the total energy value of food products must be 2300 calories; however, the newspaper Akhali Komersanti claims this is down from 2500 calories in 2003.
Analyst Soso Archvadze says that what the Statistics Separtment considers the minimum living wage has therefore changed.
“According to methodology used in 2004, the living minimum was set at GEL 120.30 per month but according to the new methodology, it is put at GEL 84.30,” the newspaper quotes Soso Archvadze as saying.
The government’s Statistics Departments uses the cost of a typical grocery basket of some forty everyday items to calculate the minimum living wage. The Health Ministry says that the total energy value of food products must be 2300 calories; however, the newspaper Akhali Komersanti claims this is down from 2500 calories in 2003.
Analyst Soso Archvadze says that what the Statistics Separtment considers the minimum living wage has therefore changed.
“According to methodology used in 2004, the living minimum was set at GEL 120.30 per month but according to the new methodology, it is put at GEL 84.30,” the newspaper quotes Soso Archvadze as saying.