Gov't to cut poverty incidence to 18 pct

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The government said today that it is targeting to bring down poverty incidence to 18 percent from the current 25.2 percent by 2016.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan told reporters in a press briefing in Malacanang, the presidential palace, that the government will do this by improving the poor's access to basic health services and reducing unemployment.

Balisacan said the Philippine government will implement strategies to increase jobs to cut unemployment rate which reached 6.5 percent as of October 2013 and underemployment rate which currently stands at nearly 20 percent.

Strategies to create jobs and improve the poor's access to basic services are outlined in the government's updated economic blueprint dubbed as the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) which was presented to the media today.

Meanwhile, Balisacan said the Philippines will be hard pressed to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving poverty incidence to 16.6 percent next year.

He said "geoclimactic shocks" such as strong earthquakes and typhoons, which rendered people jobless and destroyed public infrastructure and private properties, have made it more difficult for the Philippine government to meet the MDG target.