The government warned on Tuesday, March 19, that it would downgrade its target to reduce poverty by 2016. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the new target would be a reduction to 18%-20% of the 100 million population. This is lower than the original 16.6% poverty rate by 2016. Despite remarkable economic growth under Aquino, the poverty rate has stayed around 25% since 2003. “This new target takes into consideration the slow response of poverty to economic growth beginning 2006 and the setback in 2013 due to the wide-scale destruction resulting from natural and man-made disasters,” Balisacan said. Economists and business leaders have warned that growth has been largely limited to only a few sectors like exports and business outsourcing, leaving sizable segments of the population such as farmers untouched.
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