PHL on track for poverty reduction despite pandemic

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the Philippines was on track to meet its targets for reducing unemployment and poverty.

As of 2018, the poverty incidence among individuals had dropped to 16.7%, nearing the Philippine Development Plan's target of 14% by 2022.

NEDA noted that around 5.9 million Filipinos were lifted out of poverty in 2018, putting the country on track to meet its goal of reducing extreme poverty and cutting national poverty rates in half by 2030.

Despite setbacks due to the pandemic, NEDA Acting Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua remains optimistic that the government can still hit its revised target poverty rate of 11% by 2022.