Poverty incidence ‘significantly’ down to 21.6% in 2015 —NEDA

The poverty incidence has dropped to 21.6 percent in 2015 from 25.2 percent in 2012, the official poverty statistics showed.

In a news conference on the Philippine Statistics Office's poverty incidence report, the National Economic Development Authority described the decline as "significant."

Still the figure meant 21.93 million Filipinos who could not afford to buy basic food and non-food needs in 2015.

“As the Philippine Statistics Authority reported today, the country’s poverty incidence for the whole of 2015 declined significantly to 21.6 percent, from 25.2 percent in 2012 and 26.3 percent in 2009,” said Director Reynaldo R. Cancio of the NEDA's National Policy and Planning Staff.

“We are pleased to note that this is within the target set in the Philippine Development Plan, which is 20.0 to 23.0 percent for the year,” he added.

Family-level threshold

In its report, the PSA added that a family of five needed at least P9,064 per month to meet their basic daily requirements including food, clothing and shelter, a 15-percent increase in the 2012 estimate of about P7,890.

This means that families whose income was below that amount were considered poor, which the PSA estimated was around 16.5 percent or 3.75 million.

Despite these figures, Cancio said poverty incidence reached a “record-low.”

“Among families, poverty incidence was also at a record-low of 16.5 percent in 2015, versus 19.7 percent in 2012 and 21.0 percent in 2006,” Cancio said.

“This signifies improvements in the quality of living conditions, which may indicate that the government’s programs and projects, such as the Conditional Cash Transfer Program, have been gaining traction,” he added.

Challenges

Despite these developments, NEDA officials said there was still much more to be done to reduce poverty in the country.

NEDA Deputy Director General Rosemarie Edillon, for instance, said the issue of population growth must be addressed.

“Magkakaroon na tayo ng two-pronged strategy. One is ‘yung [economic] growth at tsaka ‘yung mas maigting na implementation ng RH (Reproductive Health) Law. Ia-address natin ‘yung issue ng population growth, and with the faster economic growth, mas dadami ang bilang ng makakaahon sa kahirapan,” Edillon said.

Cancio said the government should leverage on employment to sustain the momentum in reducing poverty.

“We need to significantly improve the business climate to create opportunities for quality, productive employment. Maintaining rapid economic growth that increases incomes of the poorest sector is a crucial factor in sustaining this momentum of reducing poverty,” he added

Moreover, NEDA is already working on the Philippine Development Plan for 2017-2022, which will be guided by the long-term vision of “AmBisyon Natin 2040,” a development plan aimed at giving Filipinos a “simple and comfortable life.”

President Rodrigo Duterte has recently signed Executive Order No. 5 approving and adopting “AmBisyon Natin 2040.” —Erwin Colcol/NB, GMA News