Philippines aims to cut poverty level in half by 2016

The Philippines' top economic official said yesterday the government aims to sustain growth at a rate high enough to nearly halve poverty by 2016.

Nearly 28 per cent of the country's 97 million people live below the poverty line and the government's aim is to reduce that to 16.6 per cent within the next three years.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the government was sticking to its forecast for economic growth of 6 to 7 per cent this year despite the surprising 7.8 per cent leap in GDP in the first quarter. He said forecasts need to be conservative because of uncertain economic outlooks for Europe, China and the US.

The Philippine economy has grown faster than 7 per cent for three straight quarters. It is projected to grow between 6.5 percent and 7.5 per cent next year and 7 to 8 per cent in 2015.

Balisacan said the government would double efforts to lift more Filipinos out of poverty in the remaining three years of President Benigno Aquino's term. He said officials would focus on creating quality jobs, addressing the backlog in housing, and continue a scheme giving cash directly to poor families as long as children stay in school and see a doctor.

Balisacan said infrastructure bottlenecks and the high cost of doing business that had stymied investment would be addressed, with infrastructure spending to be ramped up to 5 per cent of gross domestic product by 2016 from 2.5 per cent last year. He cited a study by the Japan International Co-operation Agency that shows Manila's traffic gridlock causes economic losses of 2.4 billion pesos (HK$427 million) a day.