Romulo Neri: Growth helped rich, not poor

Filipinos have mostly not benefited from the country’s economic growth—equal to about 5 percent annually—during President Gloria Arroyo’s seven-year term, a top official admitted Sunday.

While the government had aimed for 7-percent growth annually, the actual figure was insufficient to lift significant numbers out of poverty, Romulo Neri, head of the government-run Social Security System, said in a gloomy assessment of the outgoing leader’s period in office.

“Five percent is not good enough. We need about 7, possibly 8-percent growth. That is why . . . this administration’s goal was to reach 7 percent on a consistent basis,” he said in a forum aired by ABS-CBN television.

“Unfortunately we have been caught up in some crises, and we were not able to sustain it,” Neri added.

Government figures show that in 2006, about 30.1 percent of the population lived in poverty, up from 29 percent in 2003.

Although Arroyo’s government achieved a record 7.2-percent GDP growth in 2007, this was later brought down by the global financial crisis and various natural disasters. Growth in 2009 was a mere 0.9 percent, the lowest in 11 years.

GDP, or gross domestic product, is a key economic indicator showing the total value of all goods and services produced in the country in a year.

Wealthy gained most
Mrs. Arroyo, who took office in 2001 after a popular uprising toppled Joseph Estrada, is to step down after presidential elections in May.

Neri, who served as socioeconomic planning secretary from 2002 to 2007, said that it appeared that the wealthy had gained most from economic growth.

“Much of this growth is going to corporations. If you look at the savings rates . . . in the 1970s, much of the savings was in households. Now the [bulk of] savings has shifted to corporate savings,” he said.
AFP