World Bank: State cuts rates of poverty

South Africa’s fiscal policies lifted 3.6 million people out of poverty in 2010/11, a World Bank report found. The SA Economic Update, released yesterday, found that the country’s fiscal policies are cutting the rates of poverty and inequality, and that tax and social benefits are effectively redistributing income from rich to poor. “We find that fiscal policy is very progressive in South Africa – it benefits the poor more than the rich,” World Bank economist Catriona Purfield told reporters in Pretoria. “We find that because of fiscal policy, large reductions are made in poverty and inequality – in fact they are the largest reductions due to fiscal policies in our sample of 12 countries.” – Sapa