NEDA: Dev’t plan to address persistent poverty, inequality
The National Economic and Development Authority reaffirmed the government’s commitment to significantly reduce poverty and inequality in the country through the upcoming Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.
In his keynote address at the launch of the World Bank Philippines’ report on overcoming poverty and inequality earlier this week, NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan expressed that the upcoming PDP is designed to address the persisting multi-generational inequality and poverty among Filipino families.
“In particular, initiatives to boost health, improve education and lifelong learning, increase income-earning ability, ensure food security and proper nutrition, and rationalize social protection will be among the main policy thrusts of the PDP,” Balisacan said.
He added: “We aim to sustain the socioeconomic gains in the past decade for at least two more decades, in the hope of attaining the AmBisyon Natin 2040, which states that all Filipinos will enjoy a firmly-rooted, comfortable, and secure life by 2040.”
NEDA commends WB report
Responding to World Bank Philippines, he commended its report as it complements the current administration’s goal of addressing lifetime and generational inequality and poverty and of achieving a single-digit poverty level by 2028.
“The report provides a sweeping picture of how inequality and poverty are entrenched over a person’s life cycle — from maternal health that impacts mother and child, to children’s access to education and health services, and to employment and income opportunities. Interventions, therefore, must encompass this whole life cycle,” Balisacan said.
The WB report highlighted the country’s significant progress in reducing poverty, owing, in part, to sustained economic growth and structural transformation. The report showed that between 1985 and 2018, poverty in the Philippines fell by two-thirds. It also cites how the expansion of secondary education, mobility to better-paying jobs, and social assistance programs — such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps — became contributing factors to reducing poverty in the country.