A survey revealing that the average daily income in Rakhine State is K2,200 (about US$2.25) was an indication that much remains to be done there to reduce poverty, state parliament was told on September 9.
State Hluttaw Speaker U Htein Lin said the year-long survey had found that the average yearly income in Rakhine was about K800,000 ($820), but in some northern areas it was as low as K600,000.
“We are witnessing a slowing down of development and issues of instability within the state, there is a lack of employment opportunities and people cannot access electricity,” U Htein Lin told the hluttaw.
A Rakhine State member of the Union parliament, U Kyi Thar, told Mizzima on September 9 that many of the state's residents had relied on fishing for their income but fresh water shortages had forced them to move away from the coast.
U Kyi Thar, a member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party who represents Gwa Township, said many of its residents made a living foraging in forests and mountains.
“In Gwa Township, people have to pick bamboo shoots and cut bamboo for a living," he said.
The British-based magazine The Economist reported on September 4 that a recalculation based on Myanmar's provisional census result showed that the country's gross domestic product per capita had risen 17 percent to exceed K100,000 for the first time.
