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Philippines: NEDA confident on poverty reduction
THE National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is confident that the Philippines can reduce poverty by at least 9 percentage points by the end of the Marcos administration in 2028, as the government aggressively pushes for economic recovery.
“We firmly believe that we can reduce poverty by at least nine percentage points by 2028: we aim to lower poverty incidence, which is at 18.1 percent in 2021, by five percentage points by 2025 and by another four percentage points by 2028,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA chief Arsenio Balisacan said during the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines-San Miguel Corp. Economic Forum on Wednesday.
Balisacan recalled the country’s significant gains in poverty reduction between 2009 and 2018. Significantly, poverty incidence declined rapidly by 6.8 percentage points between 2015 and 2018. Between 2018 and 2021, however, some of these gains were erased due to the pandemic and challenges to the country’s policy responses.
The Philippine Statistics Authority recently reported that an additional 2.3 million Filipinos fell into poverty in 2021 compared to 2018. Last year, poverty stood at 18.1 percent of the population, from 16.7 percent in 2018.
Balisacan, however, noted that between 2015 and 2018, the Philippines achieved a 6.8-percentage-point reduction, or about 2.3 percentage points of decline per year. “So the decline from 18.1 in 2021 to 9 percent by 2028 is easily doable. So, if we aim to reduce poverty incidence by nine percentage points in 2028 or over six years, we must observe at least a 1.5-percentage-point reduction each year — as I said, an achievable target.”
“Toward this end, reinvigorating job creation under a high-growth trajectory is our utmost priority in the medium term,” he added.
Apart from poverty, the NEDA chief said there is a lot to do for the government in addressing inequality, as it partly determines how elastic or responsive poverty reduction is to economic growth. “The more unequal an economy is, the more difficult it becomes for its members to participate in expanding opportunities made available by growth. In other words, in a highly unequal society, growth is likely to be exclusive, with the wealthier segments of the population reaping most of the gains,” Balisacan pointed out.
He expressed confidence that there is a reason for optimism as the country’s rapid growth recovery is firming up despite global headwinds.
In the second quarter of 2022, the economy grew by 7.4 percent, increasing the first semester’s growth to 7.8 percent. Growth for the first semester was mainly driven by household consumption and investment — in particular, fixed capital formation — on the demand side, and the services sector on the supply side.
“You need to get that growth at a high level. We have to improve the quality of that growth… not just creating jobs on the streets, more regular jobs in the formal sectors, manufacturing, especially. And enhance the protection system so those who have these jobs don’t end up poor. If we put these all in place, it’s very doable,” Balisacan said.
Source: https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/08/18/business/top-business/neda-confident-on-poverty-reduction/1855003