Poverty on the rise again in the Philippines

The poverty rate in the Philippines rose to 18.1 per cent of the population in 2021, equivalent to nearly 20 million poor Filipinos, as compared to 16.7 per cent in 2018, the Philippine Statistics Authority said in a statement released on August 15. About 2.3 million people in the country were pushed into poverty between 2018 and 2021, largely due to the economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the authority said. The poverty incidence among the population is defined as the proportion of the Filipinos whose per-capita income cannot sufficiently meet their individual basic food and non-food needs and…

The poverty rate in the Philippines rose to 18.1 per cent of the population in 2021, equivalent to nearly 20 million poor Filipinos, as compared to 16.7 per cent in 2018, the Philippine Statistics Authority said in a statement released on August 15.

About 2.3 million people in the country were pushed into poverty between 2018 and 2021, largely due to the economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the authority said.

The poverty incidence among the population is defined as the proportion of the Filipinos whose per-capita income cannot sufficiently meet their individual basic food and non-food needs and is below the current poverty threshold of 12,030 pesos ($215) per month for a family of five, according to the statement.

Mindanao the poorest region

Region-wise, the highest poverty rate was recorded in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with 37.2 per cent, while the National Capital Region, or Metro Manila, had the lowest poverty incidence among the population at just 3.5 per cent.

The increase in poverty is a hard blow to the government and its efforts to reduce overall poverty in the Philippines.

While the poverty rate was at a whopping 28 per cent in 2013, the administration managed to continually reduce the hardship for the Filipinos by job creation, infrastructure spending and housing and education programmes in the past decade.

But still, the number of people living below the poverty line is exceeding the government’s target of a rate between 15.5 and 17.5 per cent.

Marcos sets target of nine per cent by 2028

Recently inaugurated President Ferdinand Marcos Jr even announced an ambitious target to slash the poverty rate to nine per cent by the end of his single six-year term in 2028 by “fully reopening the economy, investing in human capital and social protection and transforming production sectors to generate more and quality jobs and competitive products.”

While observers doubt that that this target can be reached in such a short interval based on historic experience and the current global economic turbulences and soaring inflation, Philippine economic planning secretary Arsenio Balisacan insists that it “remains achievable.”