Poverty seen to worsen in PH
The Philippine economy is unlikely to experience stagflation under President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcors, Jr.’s government. However, poverty is expected to worsen over the next few quarters.
According to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, stagflation — or the incidence of high inflation coupled with slow economic growth and high unemployment — is not likely to happen in the country as his team aims to reach 6.5% to 8% gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the rest of Marcos’ six-year term.
“I don’t think we’ll get there,” said Balisacan.
But, while growth is expected, inflation and the depreciation of the peso are likely to spoil the administration’s poverty alleviation efforts. Last May, inflation in the Philippines climbed to 5.4%.
The NEDA chief explained that “poverty is very responsive to high prices. Whenever food prices rise, expect poverty to rise.”
During H1 2021, poverty incidence rose by 23.7% to 3.9 million from 2018’s 21.1%. About 11.4 million Individuals, meanwhile, considered themselves poor in the third quarter of last year.
To address this dilemma, Balisacan said that implementing targeted subsidies and fast-tracking the national ID program will help the struggling population.
