Let urbanisation flourish?

Such evidence has one critical implication. There's need to re-consider the role of public investment in urban areas for poverty reduction. In fact it is a popular tenet that investments in Zambia need to be concentrated in rural areas in order to reduce poverty, as our poorest people are mainly concentrated there. However, investments in rural areas are often very onerous as substantial resources are needed to reach a population which is scattered around vast territories. To the extent that urbanisation may have substantial poverty reducing effects on rural areas, urban investments may become an important complement to rural ones in poverty reduction strategies.

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