Poverty line not updated in Uzbekistan for over 5 months 

Poverty level in Uzbekistan is officially measured by minimum consumer spending (MCS).

The procedure for determining MCS is defined in the government decision of August 27, 2021. According to it, the Statistics Agency should announce the minimum consumer spending and the poverty level based on the inflation rate of the reporting year by January 20 of the following year.

The last time MCS was set at 498 thousand soums in January 2022. Since then, the accumulated inflation of the past 18 months has been indexed to social payments, and the amount of minimum consumer spending has not been updated.

Statistics Committee information service informed Kun.uz that the updated amount of MCS will be announced in the next few days. An agency official left open the question of why the new amount has not been announced yet.

Earlier, it was announced that the poverty rate in the country has decreased from 17% to 14%. Considering that the official minimum consumer spending is taken as a measure when determining the poverty line, it is not known whether the 498,000 soums of a year ago were calculated in the formation of these statistical numbers or whether a new estimated amount was obtained.

What is the significance of the MCS amount?

Minimum consumption costs are a criterion for determining the target group of the population in need of material and other social assistance. The poverty line is determined by MCS. Financial and social assistance is provided by the state to families whose financial means have not reached this limit or below.

For example, if the monthly expenses of a family of 4 people are less than 1 million 992 thousand soums (as of January 1, 2022), the state is responsible for bringing the family’s expenses to the amount of 1 million 992 thousand soums.

According to Article 46 of the Constitution of Uzbekistan, the amount of pensions, allowances and other types of social assistance cannot be less than the officially established minimum consumption expenses.

In world experience, the indicator of minimum consumption costs is used for the following purposes:

•  to determine the target group of the population in need of material and other social assistance;
•  use in determining the country's poverty line and taking into account the real consumption characteristics and requirements of the population in the target group;
•  increasing the effectiveness and targeting of the tasks and measures set in the strategies and programs for combating poverty, as well as their continuous monitoring;
•  determining the minimum amount of pensions and allowances, as well as specifying other types of material support for poor families.

For information, based on the survey conducted among 5,400 households in 2020, the minimum consumer spending estimated at 440 thousand soums was announced in May 2021. This amount was increased by 13.2% in January 2022 to 498 thousand soums.