Gov’t claims poverty rate lower in 2012

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The number of poor families in the Philippines as a proportion to the total number of families dropped to  19.7 percent in 2012 from 20.5 percent in 2009, the National Statistical Coordination Board announced Monday.

Stated differently, the number of poor persons as a proportion of the country’s total population fell to 25.2 percent in 2012 from 26.3 percent in 2009, the NSCB said.

The improvement was attributed to the increase in the number of beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program and the increase in salaries of government employees.

From nearly 300,000 families in 2009, the number of families covered by the CCT program rose to 3 million in 2012.

Under the CCT, the government grants monthly cash subsidies to the poorest of the poor on condition that children in these households are sent to public schools and that they, together with the mothers, go to public health centers for regular check-up.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) acknowledged decline in the poverty rate was slow.

But Neda said the government has not given up officially on the Millennium Development Goal of reducing the poverty rate to only 17.2 percent of the population by 2015.

The agency said the goal remained a “fighting target.”

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