Govt postpones poverty data release

MANILA, Philippines – The national government has pushed back the release of the country’s official poverty estimates to the 2nd or 3rd quarter.

On the sidelines of the Philippine launch of the Human Development Report on March 26, National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Director General Arsenio Balisacan said the decision was made on the basis of the need to address ‘conceptual issues’. 

The government initially wanted to release the 2012 poverty data in the first quarter of 2013. The data, produced by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), is based on the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) conducted every 3 years. 

However, with Balisacan’s appointment at the NEDA, the government decided to conduct the FIES every year. 

“Our plan is to have an annual data because our last number is 2009. The last (FIES) survey was last year but, we hope to release that within the year, not in this first quarter. We’ll see if we can have it in the second or third quarter but we are hoping to release the full year of 2012 soon,” Balisacan told reporters. 

Balisacan added that the release of the full year poverty data will be accompanied by the plan to release semesteral poverty statistics. He said this will play a crucial role in monitoring the country’s progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The MDGs are a set of 8 goals, 22 quantitative targets and more than 60 specific indicators meant to serve as a focus for international and national development policy.

The first 7 goals are concerned with outcomes, identifying the progress toward certain standards of human welfare and development that should be achieved globally and nationally by 2015.

The 8th goal is concerned with “global partnership for development” to support the realization of all the goals. – Rappler.com