More Filipino households become poorer

The number of poor Filipino households was expected to go up this year because of the global economic crisis, an official of the National Statistical Coordination Board said Thursday.

At the sidelines of the Users’ Forum on the 2006 Poverty Statistics for the Basic Sectors and the 2006 Child Development Index, Romulo Virola, the board’s secretary general, told reporters to blame the higher poverty incidence in the country on rising inflation and higher population growth.

“The increase in income, especially of those in the lower-income brackets, is not as fast as the increase in prices. So the income of the low-income classes could not cope with inflation, therefore some of them who were probably above the poverty line before went below the poverty line,” he explained.

In 2006, the poverty incidence rose to 26.9 percent compared to 24.4 percent in 2003.

Virola said that economic growth in the past years was felt more by the higher-income classes, not by the lower-income ones.

“It’s not automatic that when an economy grows, poverty will be reduced,” he added.

“You need a certain level of economic growth so that it can translate into poverty reduction.”

What’s needed

Economists earlier said that the economy should expand by at least 7 percent annually to be able to cut poverty incidence.

From 2003 to 2006, the country’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth was 5.6 percent. GDP is the total value of goods and services produced in a country in a year.

Last year, the GDP grew by only 3.8 percent from an earlier 4.6 percent; 7.1 percent from 7.2 percent in 2007; and 5.3 percent from 5.4 percent in 2006.

For this year, the economy is expected to grow between 0.8 percent and 1.8 percent from an earlier projection of between 3.1 percent and 4.1 percent.

Economic experts estimate that for every 1 percent increase in GDP, the poverty incidence drops by 0.6 percent.

To reduce poverty incidence amid the economic slowdown, Virola recommended that the government find ways on how to increase the salary of Filipino workers.

“Since 2009 is a survey year, it’s a challenge for decision-makers to [look for] ways on how to increase the salary of workers,” he said. “It’s a bit dangerous that the poverty incidence might worsen.”

The National Statistics Office is set to conduct this year the Family Income and Expenditures Survey, or FIES, the basis of the poverty incidence being computed by the statistical board.

Development index

They survey is conducted every three years, the last one in 2006.

Also, the statistical board said that the human development index of the country’s children has been “deteriorating” between 2003 and 2006.

The agency added that the country’s child development index (CDI) slightly deteriorated by 0.003 points between 2000 and 2004 and by 0.050 points between 2003 and 2006.

“Also worrisome is the fact that the number of regions that rated high in CDI, continually decreased between 2000 and 2006,” it said. The board added that while child development is rated “medium” in almost all regions, except for Metro Manila, which is rated “high,” the poverty situation shows a darker picture particularly in Visayas and Mindanao.

The child development index includes health, education and quality of life.

Wilfredo Nuqui, associate fellow of the National Defense College of the Philippines, said the situation of the children in the country is “teetering into recession.”

The statistical board said that poverty incidence among children rose to 40.8 percent in 2006 from 38.8 percent in 2003 and 42.5 in 2000.

A total of 14.41 Filipino children are poor as of 2006, from 13.47 million in 2003.

“Fishermen, farmers and children comprised the poorest three sectors in 2006 with poverty incidences of 49.9 percent, 44 percent and 40.8 percent, respectively,” the board said.

It added that all sectors posted increases in poverty incidence between 2003 and 2006. –Darwin G. Amojelar, Senior Reporter, Manila Times