The Philippines aspires to be an upper middle-income economy and eradicate hunger and poverty by 2040, the National Economic and Development Authority said Wednesday.
“The Philippines shall be a country where all citizens are free from hunger and poverty, have equal opportunities, enabled by fair and just society that is governed with order and unity. A nation where families live together, thriving in vibrant, culturally diverse and resilient communities,” Neda said, quoting the Ambisyon Natin 2040 report, which contains the country’s aspirations over the next 25 years.
The country was a lower-middle income economy with $3,500 per capita in 2014. Neda said to become an upper middle-income economy, the country must have a per capita income level of $11,000, similar to Malaysia’s today.
A survey by the Philippine Statistics Authority showed most Filipinos were aspiring for a better life away from poverty and to have a middle-class lifestyle in a span of 25 years.
Neda said 79 percent of Filipinos aspired for simple and comfortable life, described as having a medium-size home, having enough earnings to support everyday needs and owning at least one car or vehicle.
Filipinos also aimed for the capacity to provide their children college education and going local trips for vacation.
“That’s why we have them elaborate a simple and better life and it showed that it is a middle-class lifestyle because they want own car, house, trips,” Neda deputy director-general Rosemarie Edillon said during the launch of the Ambisyon Natin 2040 in Quezon City.
Neda said a smaller segment of the population or about 16.9 percent wanted an affluent life, while the remaining 3.9 percent aspired for a rich lifestyle.
Based on the survey conducted last year, of the three-fourths of Filipinos who aspired for simple and better life by 2040, almost half were not confident they would reach their goals.
“Confidence in achieving the goals is lower among the poor,” the report said.
For the Filipinos in general, the most important economic goal is the eradication of poverty, hunger and adequate jobs. Housing and education landed as the second and third important goals, respectively.
Edillon said while the aspiration of Filipinos were influenced by the daily struggles experienced by most households, the aspirations could go higher if the Philippines became an upper middle income economy.
Economic Planning Secretary Emmanuel Esguerra said they recognized that the government had a critical role to play in supporting the realization of these aspirations.
“Government needs to provide enabling conditions to help Filipinos build-up their resources—including physical, intellectual and financial – by fostering sustained economic growth, investing in people, and protecting them against shocks that destabilizes them. The government also needs to provide the appropriate ‘rules of the game’ and ensure that these are enforced fairly and equally,” Esguerra said.
“We need to look at where we were before, but there is no denying that there are still some problems, in a way big problems with respect to the kind of services.. As I mentioned earlier, the fact that people prefer to have own means of transportation is a reflection of the fact that they don’t have good experience with public transportation,” Esguerra said.