NEDA releases new five-year Philippines Development Plan

MANILA, Philippines — The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has released the country’s development plan for this year until 2028, which sets targets on economic growth, unemployment and poverty reduction as the government aims to bring the economy back on a high growth path.

Released over the weekend, the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) for 2023 to 2028 aims for a deep economic and social transformation to promote job creation and accelerate poverty reduction by steering the economy back on a high growth path.

“Over the next six years, the development agenda of the Philippines will be guided by the headline targets that prioritize poverty reduction and inclusive growth,” the PDP said.

Under the PDP, the aim is to maintain high levels of economic growth from six to seven percent this year to 6.5 to eight percent annually from 2024 to 2028.

In the January to September period of 2022, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaged 7.7 percent.

The PDP also shows the country is aiming to continue to make progress in terms of innovation by rising in rank in the Global Innovation Index, from a baseline rank of 59th out of 132 countries last year to 57th this year, 54th in 2024, 52nd in 2025, 49th in 2026, 46th in 2027 and 43rd by 2028.

“Similarly, the country will be ranked among the top 33 percent in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) by 2028,” the PDP declared.

The country was in the top 45 percent of the GCI in 2019.

As the plan also aims for the creation of more and better-quality jobs, it set unemployment rate targets of 5.3 to 6.4 percent this year, 4.4 to 4.7 percent next year, 4.8 to 5.1 percent in 2025, and four to five percent annually from 2026 to 2028.

By 2028, the percentage of wage and salary workers in private establishments to total employed is targeted to be within 53 to 55 percent, according to the PDP.

In terms of gross national income per capita, the PDP shows the target is to bring this to $6,044 to $6,571 by 2028 from the baseline of $3,640 in 2021.

The PDP also aims to bring down the poverty incidence rate to 16 to 16.4 percent this year, 12.9 to 13.2 percent in 2025, 10 to 10.3 percent in 2027, and 8.8 to nine percent by 2028 from 18.1 percent in 2021.

“This is expected to result from sustained economic growth that generates more and better-quality jobs, and is supported by an efficient social protection system,” the PDP stated.

With the aim of keeping food and overall prices low and stable, the PDP showed the goal is for the food and headline inflation to be within 2.5 to 4.5 percent this year and two to four percent annually from 2024 to 2028.

Food inflation averaged 5.7 percent in the January to November period last year, while the average headline inflation for the 11-month period is at 5.6 percent.

In ensuring fiscal discipline, the PDP showed the target is for the national government deficit to GDP ratio to be brought down to 6.1 percent this year, 5.1 percent in 2024, 4.1 percent in 2025, 3.5 percent in 2026, 3.2 percent in 2027 and three percent by 2028 from 6.5 percent during the first to third quarter of last year.

Outstanding government debt to GDP ratio will also be gradually reduced from 63.7 percent in September 2022 to 48 to 53 percent by end-2028.

“The Marcos administration’s PDP 2023 to 2028 seeks to build on the significant gains the country has achieved in the past two decades, mindful of some setbacks caused by the pandemic,” NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.

The PDP 2023 to 2028 was approved by the NEDA Board chaired by President Marcos in December last year.

Balisacan said the NEDA would work with various agencies and the private sector, and submit regular reports to the President on the status and impact of the PDP’s implementation and recommend measures to enhance the performance moving forward.