GOVT WORKING TO BRING DOWN 2012 POVERTY LEVELS THROUGH INVESTMENT IN SOCIAL SERVICES, RESPECTABLE ECON GROWTH AND STABLE INFLATION

MANILA — The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) hopes that the country would finally ignite the momentum this year of reducing poverty levels with the expansion of government’s investment in social services, respectable economic growth and stable inflation.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said that some recent achievements on human resource development could help reduce poverty. “Net enrolment rate in kindergarten, elementary and secondary levels have all increased from 2009 to 2011 while the levels in elementary increased from 88.1 percent in 2009 to 91 percent last year. Also, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program already covered 3.1 million families as of April this year, exceeding the 2012 target of three million” he said.

Balisacan further said that the social services will receive a huge share of next year’s budget. “The government’s proposed budget for 2013 is PhP2.006 trillion, which is 10.5 percent higher than the PhP1.816-trillion budget this year. Next year, almost a third of the budget will go to social services.,” he said.

The Secretary said that the proposed PhP2.006-trillion budget next year was designed so that government’s programs will have a significant dent on poverty and development targets will be achieved earlier.

“For example, the target in education is to bring down the classroom gap to zero by next year, instead of by 2015. Teacher and textbook gaps are also aimed to be brought down to zero by next year,” Balisacan said.

Balisacan, who is also Director-General of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), also said that when he was still in the academe, one of the development puzzles he often encountered was that poverty reduction in the country has been slow and lagging. He added that the proportion of poor Filipinos seems to only plateau between 2000 to 2009, when this should have gone down given the continuous economic growth during the period.

“This is why we term this period of 2000 to 2009 as our ‘lost decade’ with respect to poverty reduction. We expect to break this pattern of jobless growth because the economy has been growing  respectably over the last three years. We started with 7.6 percent for 2010 and 3.9 percent for 2011. We expect to have a respectable figure for 2012, hopefully within the upper range of our growth assumptions for the year,” he said.

According to the official poverty statistics by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), the proportion of poor Filipinos was 28.4 percent in 2000, 24.9 percent in 2003, 26.4 percent in 2006, and 26.5 percent in 2009. On the other hand, the country’s average three-year growth rates in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), or the value of goods and services produced domestically, ranging between 3.5 to 4.7 percent.

Balisacansaid this year’s round of Family Income and Expenditure Survey, where poverty statistics are based, would hopefully yield better results, given the government’s massive investment in social services.

“I would be surprised if we don’t see a reduction in poverty in this year’s FIES given the expansion in social services and respectable growth. Another contributing factor would be inflation, which during this period has been very much tamed. Inflation is a very important determinant of poverty because it affects the purchasing power of the poor more than it does affect the rich,” he further said. 

With the first-quarter GDP growth at 6.4 percent, Balisacan said that the government has a level of comfort that the high end of the 5 to 6-percent growth target for this year will be attained.

“Sustaining the growth momentum is one part of the challenge; the other is to ensure that this is more inclusive and shared by all,” he said.

MR No. 2012-053

18 July 2012