Faster economic growth seen in the Philippines

APD NEWS

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By APD writer Melo M. Acuna

MANILA, April 3 (APD) – Philippine socioeconomic planners believe the Philippine Development Plan from 2017 to 2022 will assure everyone of inclusive growth with “a high-trust and resilient society” and “globally-competitive knowledge economy.”

Speaking at the 2017 Socioeconomic Report this morning, National Economic and Development Authority officer-in-charge Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon said the foundation should be solid enough to push the country to faster economic growth path and that all Filipinos will be empowered to achieve their collective aspirations mentioned in AmBisyon 2040.

NEDA Officer-In-Charge Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon says the country's Philippine Development Plan for 2017-2022 will assure the Filipinos of inclusive growth.

“The 2017 Socioeconomic Report contains strategies to address the binding constraints that severely limit the effectiveness of programs and projects to achieve the desired outcomes,” Undersecretary Edillion said.

She added the groundwork for change was initiated in 2017 with “some even reaching successful conclusion either through legislation or executive action.”

Ms. Edillon said this took place with the reactivation of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).

She added 2018 is expected to be a transition period with planned changes to be fully implemented next year.

The NEDA officer-in-charge said the Gross National Income per capita grew at a rate of 6.5 percent for 2017 “which already exceeded the 4.5 percent target set for the year.”

She however said the data for poverty, rural poverty and subsistence incidents were not readily available in 2017 while the 2018 poverty data will be released next year.

The Family Income and Expenditure Survey will be made every two years.

“The survey will enable us to monitor these poverty statistics more frequently,” Ms. Edillon added.

Photo shows media practitioners in attendance to this morning's Socio Economic Report briefing at neda, Pasig City.

Food inflation increased from 2.6 percent in 2016 to 3.7 percent in 2017 though within the target for the period.

It was learned that preliminary estimates show that the national unemployment rate registered at 5.7 percent in 2017 from the 5.5 percent in 2016.

“While the current unemployment rate has improved compared to previous decades, we are still behind the 5.1 to 5.4 percent the target we have set for 2017,” she explained.

She admitted that employment creation has remained a challenge for there were more than 650,000 employment losses in 2017, “far from the target of increasing employment to 900,000 to 1.1 million annually.”

Another significant aspect of the report is the youth unemployment rate for October 2017 which saw an increase to 11.9 percent from 11.6 percent in October 2016.

The youth unemployment rate for the full year 2017 is at 14.4 percent far from the target of 11.0 percent youth unemployment for the year.

In closing, Undersecretary Edillon sounded optimistic with the 2017 Global Innovation Index Report where the Philippines placed 73rd of 127 economies, “branding the country as one of the new Asian Tigers and leaders in ICT services exports in Southeast Asia.”

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)