The prolonged pandemic has set back the fight against poverty in Asia and the Pacific by at least two years, saying the region will likely find it harder than before to escape poverty, a report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) revealed.

According to ADB’s Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2022, The region’s economic growth this year is expected to reduce extreme poverty to a level that would have been achieved in 2020 had the pandemic not happened.

ADB defined extreme poverty as those living off less than $1.9, or P106, per day.

The bank’s data simulations also showed that people in the Asia and the Pacific with lower pre-pandemic levels of social mobility—the ability to escape poverty—may experience longer-lasting setbacks.

The Covid-19 crisis interrupted a long trend of poverty reduction in Asia and the Pacific, although economies are recovering, progress is uneven, ADB noted.

It added that the pandemic may also have worsened forms of poverty beyond income, such as food insecurity and inadequate access to health services and education, according to the report.

“The poor and the vulnerable have been hit hardest by Covid-19, and while economies are recovering, many people may find that getting out of poverty is even more difficult than before,” Albert Park, ADB chief economist said.

“Governments in the region should focus on resilience, innovation, and inclusiveness to provide more balanced economic opportunities and greater social mobility for everyone,” he added.

By 2030, the prevalence of extreme poverty in the region is expected to drop below one percent.

At the same time, about 25 percent of the population is projected to achieve at least middle-class status, defined as having income or consumption of $15 or more a day, adjusted for purchasing power parity.

However, the outlook is threatened by differences in social mobility as well as other uncertainties, according to the ADB.

Developing Asia faces the potential for stagflation, ongoing conflicts involving key global actors, increased food insecurity, and energy price shocks.

Last Aug. 15, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that 2.3 million Filipinos were pushed into poverty in the last three-years due to the effects of the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic on the economy and employment.

Poverty incidence in the country clocked in at 18.1 percent in 2021, up from 16.7 percent in 2018. This is also above the government’s target range of 15.5 percent to 17.5 percent.

According to the PSA, the poverty rate translates to 19.99 million poor Filipinos whose income was not sufficient to meet their basic food and non-food needs. This increased from 17.67 million recorded in 2018.