The Philippine government is committed to the lofty goal of strong, sustainable, inclusive growth. But do policy makers truly understand what inclusiveness means? What do the evidence show about the state of economic, social and environmental inclusiveness of the Philippine economy? What should government authorities do to make growth inclusive?
There Can Be No Inclusive Growth, If Agriculture and the Rural Sector Are Being Neglected
A recent 2015 study sponsored by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) shows that over a period of 23 years, from 1990 to 2013, has Philippines has the worst record among its ASEAN-5 peers in terms of economic, social and environmental inclusiveness. This should be a wake-up call for policy makers who boast the Philippines is the best performing country among its ASEAN-5 peers. The harsh reality is that more meaningful and deeper reforms need to be done by government authorities, present and future, before the Philippines can catch up with its ASEAN-5 neighbors.
Oliver Paddison, the author of the ESCAP study, said that inclusiveness is a multi-dimensional concept. Inclusiveness should not be equated with strong growth, though it might be a strong anchor for it. Stated differently, strong growth is a necessary but not sufficient condition for inclusive growth. Inclusiveness is “ typically measured using income related indicators.” How does the Philippines compare with its ASEAN-4? Here, we omitted Singapore. There’s no point comparing ASEAN-4 economies with Singapore, which is a first-world city-state.
Source: Manilaspeak 2015, "The Real Meaning of Inclusiveness", viewed 9 July 2015,<http://www.manilaspeak.com/ben-diokno/the-real-meaning-of-inclusiveness/>
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