President Marcos Jr. affirmed his administration’s commitment to reduce poverty to a single digit level by the end of his term.
The President, in his 194-page “President’s Report to the People,” said this is possible “through rapid, sustained, and inclusive growth that will create more, better, and resilient jobs.”
The PRP is the technical report of the state of the nation address that was delivered last Monday and contains more details about the actions taken and accomplishments achieved by the administration along with the ongoing efforts to further realize all its goals.
The current poverty level is at 18.1 percent as of 2021 according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
The President said the government has an “an all-inclusive plan for economic transformation” which aims to make the country’s economy at a state that is better than the one before the pandemic, and eventually make his dream ofa “Bagong Pilipinas (New Philippines)” into a reality.
Marcos said the administration had adopted some sound fiscal management and productivity-enhancing investments to achieve its growth targets and attain short-term macro fiscal stability as seen through its economic growth of 7.6 percent by the end of 2022 and 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2023.
“We are on track towards achieving our goal of 6.0 percent to 7.0 percent GDP growth for 2023,” he said in the report.
He said inflation has also started to go down gradually, along with the unemployment and underemployment rates.
The country also maintained its credit ratings along with the “advantage in accessing capital from the international financial market at relatively lower interest rates, thereby putting us in a better position to fund our priority programs and projects.”
The President said the government is also keeping its “external payments position at manageable levels” by exercising “prudent debt management.”
Marcos said the administration is committed to bring down its debt ratio to below 60 percent of the GDP by 2025.
