Neda to review development, investment tacks

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) will start the midterm review of the three-year-old Philippine Development Plan (PDP) and the still unfinished Public Investment Program (PIP), which is expected to be completed next quarter.

Neda Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan told reporters on Wednesday that the review, particularly of the PDP—the country’s economic blueprint—has long been practiced by the government.

In the case of the PIP, Balisacan said, the process is still unfinished since President Aquino has not signed the document.

“By the time we complete the third year [2013] of the administration, we should already have that plan and along with that will be the Public Investment Program,” Balisacan said. Mr. Aquino’s six-year term began in 2010.

“I will set up the process, I will discuss with the generals, but definitely, we will start within the third quarter. We want to present to the President something by [the end of] the second half,” he added.

The review of the development plan and the investment program will take into consideration Executive Order (EO) 79 on mining that was recently signed by Mr. Aquino and the two-year extension of the land-reform program until 2014.

Under EO 79, the administration will not allow new mining agreements while the extended land-reform program intends to expedite land distribution until 2014.

Balisacan said implementation has always been the biggest problem faced by the country’s development plans.

He added that Neda will address implementation issues to make the PDP more responsive to the country’s needs in the last three years of the Aquino administration.

“Many of the past PDPs were well-crafted [but] many of those plans were not implemented [because] there was a disconnect between what government actually did in terms of public investment, in terms of public policy, and what the documents said,” according to Balisacan.

He added that there is now a “greater opportunity” to make a connection partly because the President and his Cabinet discuss issues openly.

The PDP fleshed out Mr. Aquino’s 16-point agenda for achieving inclusive and sustainable economic growth during his term. It aims to reduce poverty incidence to 16.1 percent in 2016, a Millennium Development Goal (MDG); create an average of a million jobs every year; achieve a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7 percent to 8 percent every year; increase the country’s investment rate to 22 percent by 2016; and meet the other MDGs. GDP is the total value of goods and services produced in a country in a year.

The PIP outlines all the projects that the administration intends to complete until the end of the President’s term.

Neda earlier said the 2011-2016 PIP would cost around P4.2 trillion. Around P3.7 trillion of this amount will be used to finance various infrastructure projects while the balance will be used for the government’s microlending program for small and medium enterprises. –Noriel de guzman, Businessmirror