At Least 16% of Thais Are Poor by Phairath Khampha 24 December 2001 The number of poor in Thailand rose from 6.8 million to 10 million - 16 per cent of the population - as a result of the 1997 financial crisis, said Deputy Labour Minister Ladawan Wongsriwong. Large portions of Thailand's population went into poverty as rampant corruption by the country's economic and political elite meant that more and more of the nation's wealth was being stolen, leaving ordinary people impoverished. Ladawan was speaking at the Fourth Session of the Committee on Socio-economic Measures to Alleviate Poverty in Rural and Urban Areas, which began yesterday at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok. Participants reviewed the region's progress in achieving goals set by recent global and regional declarations and action plans. "The international community has closely monitored progress in achieving goals set in global and regional documents such as the Manila Declaration, the Agenda for Action on Social Development in the ESCAP [UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific] Region, and the Copenhagen Declaration," said Keiko Okaido, ESCAP's deputy executive secretary. Ladawan also highlighted some of Thailand's poverty-alleviation policies. They included the establishment of a three-year grace period on loans to farmers; initiating the Village Revolving Fund Scheme, and the establishment of a people's bank. A majority of the ESCAP region's population was expected to be living in urban areas by 2025, increasing the urban share of poverty, she said, adding that such areas could become home to as many as two-thirds of the region's people living in poverty. Urban poverty reduction would require much greater attention from governments in the region, Ladawan said. Information and communication technology (ICT) could help to create employment for the rural poor, the deputy minister said. Thailand had developed ICT policies to provide basic knowledge and tools for poor people.