Job creation must be RP's top priority - NEDA

MANILA, Philippines - The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said yesterday that the creation of more jobs should be the top priority of the government at this time and should continue to be a priority of the next administration.

Reading out the global recession impact news prepared for yesterday’s Cabinet meeting held at Novaliches in Quezon City, NEDA Director Dennis Arroyo said that the focus should be specifically on the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector where there is still a lot of room for growth.

The MSME sector makes up a significant portion of the country’s total jobs created and continues to provide more new jobs to the people.

Arroyo said that the support from the government would be in the form of more access to credit for the new entrepreneurs in order to build their respective businesses.

He noted that the global unemployment rate reached a record high of 6.6 percent in 2009, mostly due to the global financial crisis that led to several economies going into a recession.

Recovery has started to take place across the globe, particularly in the United States where any movement in its economy has an impact on almost all countries.

US President Barack Obama has made the creation of jobs the top priority of his government and has even released a $30-billion fund for the use of small businesses.

During the Cabinet meeting, the NEDA also cited the improvements in the revenue collection efforts of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs as reflected in its collections for the month of January.

The BIR collected a total of P61.67 billion in January, P5.67 billion over its target of P56 billion.

The BOC, on the other hand, collected P17.602 billion, which was over its target of P14.091 billion.

Arroyo said that the two agencies should be given more morale boosters for its accomplishments in order for them to sustain the strong collection efforts last month.

He said that President Arroyo could do her share in this effort by visiting the offices of the two agencies to give them some motivation to work harder.