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I am pleased to welcome you to today’s media briefing on the Philippines Poverty Assessment report, entitled “Making Growth Work for the Poor: A Poverty Assessment for the Philippines.”
The Report has two important stories to tell. The first story is inspiring. And gives everyone hope: The Philippines can overcome poverty!
The reason for this optimism is that from 2006 to 2015, robust economic growth helped the poverty rate in the Philippines to fall by 5 percentage points. Hence, poverty declined from 26.6 percent in 2006 to 21.6 percent in 2015. The contributing factors for this decline in poverty were the expansion of jobs outside agriculture, government transfers, in particular to qualified poor families through the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, and remittances.