Gov’t on track to reduce poverty rate to 14% by ‘22

THE DUTERTE administration remains fully committed to reduce poverty incidence to just 14% or lower by 2022, given the gamechanging reforms it has been carrying out to make the country’s economic expansion not only rapid but also inclusive for all law-abiding Filipinos, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has said.

Dominguez said these reforms include the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), which has stabilized the price and supply of rice in the retail market; the Tax Reform Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN), which gave substantial tax breaks to 99% of wage earners; and the increased tax rates on ‘sin’ products to help fund the Universal Health Care Program (UHC) that primarily benefits low-income families.

He said these reforms, complemented by other initiatives along with positive economic developments that boosted the purchasing power of Filipinos, has reduced the country’ poverty incidence from 23.3% in 2015 to just 16.6% in 2018.

This means 5.9 million Filipinos lifted themselves from poverty in the first three years of the Duterte presidency, he said.

“We stand by our commitment to reduce poverty incidence to 14% or lower by 2022,” Dominguez said at the joint general assembly of financial institutions held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City last week.

These institutions include the member-groups of the ACI Philippines Financial Markets Association (ACI Phils.), Fund Managers Association of the Philippines (FMAP), Investment House Association of the Philippines (IHAP),

Money Market Association of the Philippines (MART), and the Trust Officers Association of the Philippines (TOAP).

Dominguez pointed to official statistics showing that the lower-income brackets experienced the highest increase in mean per-capita income from 2015 to 2018.

For the lowest 30% of the population, per-capita income grew by an average of 32%, outpacing the 20.9% overall average, he said. In comparison, the richest 20% of the population grew their per-capita income by only 18% during this period, he added.

“Clearly, the growth we are experiencing is not only rapid. It is also inclusive,” Dominguez said.