Despite fall in poverty rates, CRS adviser sees 'dirt in the details'

Published: 2007-04-23

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Global poverty rates continue to fall, but deepening economic inequality in many countries "is a worrying trend," said a church policy adviser. Paul Miller, Africa policy adviser for Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' international relief and development agency, said the World Bank Development Indicators 2007 report "brings positive news about income growth and the number of people in poverty worldwide, but a number of nuances make a less-rosy picture." He said that the report "notes income growth does not necessarily lead to poverty reduction, although it may be a necessary condition." Miller, based at CRS headquarters in Baltimore, discussed the "dirt in the details" of the April 15 report in a mid-April telephone and e-mail interview with Catholic News Service. For example, he said, the economies of many African countries "are saddled with challenges of HIV/AIDS" and dependence on one export, which "makes them more vulnerable to shocks -- climatic, political or economic."

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