THE ECONOMY may sustain the economic growth momentum of 2016, with forecasts by multilateral lenders expected to be achieved amid a global wave of rising trade, the government’s chief economic planner said.
Jun 112017
Jun 012017
THE PPP CENTER has asked the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to come up with guidelines for assessing the best mode to implement infrastructure projects after the government said it favors “hybrid” methods of financing projects instead of public-private partnerships (PPPs).
Jan 262017
CHINA has agreed to cooperate with the Philippines on three projects worth $3.44 billion and not the initially reported 30 projects worth $3.7 billions agreed on during the meeting between the two countries held in Beijing on Monday.
Dec 222016
AFTER the cancellation of an Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) Cabinet Committee meeting set for Dec. 1, the next one could be set for the second week of January with eight projects awaiting approval, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
Nov 212016
THE National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) swore in Ferdinand A. Pecson as new Executive Director of the Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines yesterday, after President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed the appointment papers on Nov. 15.
Sep 132015
ECONOMIC GROWTH should pick up in the third quarter from its rate of expansion seen in the first half although a prolonged dry spell poses the biggest downside risk for the country’s prospects, the government’s chief economic planner said.
Dec 222013
THE NATIONAL Economic Development Authority (NEDA) is expected to release before the end of this month a type of progress report on the Philippine Development Plan (PDP), a Cabinet official yesterday said.
Nov 172013
President Benigno Aquino III (in yellow), returning to typhoon-hit Tacloban City on Monday, is pictured with Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman (in red). RTVM MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – Due to the vast devastation and huge loss of lives wrought by super typhoon Haiyan (locally named Yolanda) that slammed the Visayas a week ago, the country’ economic growth could slow down and the incidence of poverty could rise. On Friday, the Philippines’ National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the top economic policy-making body of the government, said that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) could grow by only 4.1 percent in the fourth quarter. The NEDA is now saying that the full-year GDP growth could range from 6.5 and 7 percent, slower than the earlier forecast of 7.3 percent. But the full-year GDP growth forecast still remains at the high end of the government’s 2013 target of 6 to 7 percent. In a statement, NEDA Director General Arsenio Balisacan acknowledged the need for massive relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts to ease the impact of the calamity on the economy. “To ensure that we regain lost ground the soonest, we need to accelerate the implementation of social and economic development projects,” Balisacan said. Earlier, Balisacan also said that Haiyan and other natural calamities that have struck the Philippines could push more households into “transient” poverty. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 He said that a significant portion of the country’s poor are Read More …
Oct 092013
(NEDA logo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – The Philippines is backing calls for the United Nations to adopt a wider definition of poverty meant to fine-tune efforts by governments around the world to bring down the number of poor people. “We strongly support the push for the inclusion of multidimensional poverty measures in the menu of performance indicators for post-2015 development agenda,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement he delivered during a meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) held at the 68th UN General Assembly last September 24 in New York City. Balisacan, who is also director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) is “an extremely useful complement to income poverty based on, say, $1.25 per person per day poverty line.” In pushing for the MPI, Balisacan cited the Philippine experience, wherein poverty data has defied government efforts – such as the conditional cash transfer program—to improve the lives of the poor. Despite the country’s above-target economic growth, the number of poor Filipinos hardly changed at a fourth of the population, he said. But if a more inclusive definition of poverty was used – as was done in a 2011 study – economic growth however has led to the reduction in extreme forms of poverty, Balisacan said. “This tells me, as a policymaker, that multidimensional poverty measurement is highly relevant and extremely useful for our efforts to substantially reduce poverty in the Philippines and, I believe, elsewhere,” he said. Balisacan Read More …
May 302013
A man cooks his food along a sidewalk in Tondo district, Manila. EDD GUMBAN/FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines – The country may have an impressive gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter, but an economic official believes that this growth is still about its impact to the poor. The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) revealed on Thursday that the Philippines’ GDP grew by 7.8 percent in the first three months, exceeding market and government expectations and beating Southeast Asian nations and even China. But Socioeconomic Planning Sec. Arsenio Balisacan admitted that the issue is all about making the GDP growth inclusive. “We know, however, that inclusive growth is not about averages, but about the lower part of the income distribution, namely, the poor,” said Balisacan, who is also the director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). “On the other hand, we also know that growth is still the necessary condition for inclusive growth,” he added. Malacanang said its goal is to ensure that the recent economic gains of the country are being felt by all. “That is always the target; that nobody will be left behind,” said Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte. “With the high numbers that we have, even with the boost in investor confidence, the rallies that you’ve been seeing in the stock market, ang importante po sa atin ay ‘yung maramdaman ng lahat [‘yung economic growth],” she added. But Valte noted that the effects of these economic gains do not happen overnight. The NSCB said Read More …