Aquino admin sets 7-8% growth target for 2011
02/19/2011
MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration has set a growth target of 7% to 8% target this year, saying this would boost employment and help reduce poverty.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga Jr. yesterday said that “in order to do this, we will arrange the right policies in a way that our target will be more achievable.”
Last year, the economy grew by 7.3%, way above the official target of 5% to 6% and the highest recorded in the post-Marcos era on account of significant expansions in the industry and services sectors.
Paderanga said that in order to sustain the strong economic performance, the government would need to have an integrated infrastructure program, improved governance and an effective delivery of social services.
“We will ensure as much as possible that our economic policies will be more targeted to the lower income bracket and spread effects are faster but without significantly affecting sustainability of growth,” he said.
The Socioeconomic Planning chief said that while a 6% growth will have significant effects on poverty reduction and other government targets, a seven to 8% goal is deemed much better by economists.
However, he conceded that an 8% target would be difficult to reach.
The government is committed to halving poverty, based on the 1991 level, by 2015 as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations.
Recently, the National Statistical Coordination Board released the 2009 Poverty Statistics using a refined method that registered an increase in magnitude of poor population by almost 970,000 Filipinos, from 22.2 million in 2006 to 23.1 million in 2009.
This refined method, which was recently publicly introduced, computes the annual per capita food threshold through food bundles per province rather than on a per region basis.
Paderanga said the NSCB will run parallel estimates for both former and refined methods from 1991 up until 2012 for comparability and labor discussion purposes.
“This translates to a more location-specific targeting of plans and programs for poverty reduction, especially for monitoring of the MDGs. Implementation would also be more effective as re-channelled resources would cover intended beneficiaries,” Paderanga said.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga Jr. yesterday said that “in order to do this, we will arrange the right policies in a way that our target will be more achievable.”
Last year, the economy grew by 7.3%, way above the official target of 5% to 6% and the highest recorded in the post-Marcos era on account of significant expansions in the industry and services sectors.
Paderanga said that in order to sustain the strong economic performance, the government would need to have an integrated infrastructure program, improved governance and an effective delivery of social services.
“We will ensure as much as possible that our economic policies will be more targeted to the lower income bracket and spread effects are faster but without significantly affecting sustainability of growth,” he said.
The Socioeconomic Planning chief said that while a 6% growth will have significant effects on poverty reduction and other government targets, a seven to 8% goal is deemed much better by economists.
However, he conceded that an 8% target would be difficult to reach.
The government is committed to halving poverty, based on the 1991 level, by 2015 as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations.
Recently, the National Statistical Coordination Board released the 2009 Poverty Statistics using a refined method that registered an increase in magnitude of poor population by almost 970,000 Filipinos, from 22.2 million in 2006 to 23.1 million in 2009.
This refined method, which was recently publicly introduced, computes the annual per capita food threshold through food bundles per province rather than on a per region basis.
Paderanga said the NSCB will run parallel estimates for both former and refined methods from 1991 up until 2012 for comparability and labor discussion purposes.
“This translates to a more location-specific targeting of plans and programs for poverty reduction, especially for monitoring of the MDGs. Implementation would also be more effective as re-channelled resources would cover intended beneficiaries,” Paderanga said.
