MANILA – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) expects the country’s poverty rate to be halved by the end of the current administration’s term in 2022.
“This would be the first time in history that the poverty rate will be halved in just six years, a significant contribution and achievement of this administration,” Socioeconomic Planning secretary Ernesto Pernia said in a statement.
This is in line with the more ambitious target reduction of poverty incidence to 11 percent from the original 14 percent by 2022, which was approved in the previous meeting of the Development Budget Coordination Committee.
Statistics show the country’s poverty incidence dropped to 16.6 percent in 2018, averaging a reduction of 2.23 percentage points per year, making the previous target achievable by mid-2022.
The decline was also broad-based, as all regions, except the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, recorded a decline in poverty incidence among population.
NEDA attributed the decline in poverty to sustained growth that generated jobs for the poor, increased incomes of the poor that outweighed inflation, the implementation of social programs like conditional and unconditional cash transfers and pensions, population and family planning program, and less extreme weather conditions.
“Inclusive, job-generating growth and better-targeted programs helped increase the incomes of the poor. For those in the bottom 30 percent of the population, mean per capita income increased by 31.9 percent, outpacing the income growth of those in the top 20 percent of households,” Pernia said.
He added the government must continue to generate more quality jobs, increase the income and reduce the vulnerability of the poor through social programs and financial literacy, and the intensified implementation of the National Program on Population and Family Planning (NPPFP).
Pernia also underscored the need for the NPPFP to be fully funded for the next three years to help further strengthen and broaden its implementation at the local level.
In particular, this will help boost the implementation of sexuality education program in all schools to reduce teenage pregnancies, he said.
Pernia further said it is important to have programs that will encourage savings to increase people’s resilience to disasters and protect against unexpected income losses or expenses.
“We must remember that we are aiming for comfortable and secure lives for all so we must be more ambitious in terms of poverty targets,” he added.(PNA)
