MANILA, Philippines - Equitable distribution of opportunity, wealth and power is the key to sustaining growth in the Philippines, President Benigno S. Aquino III said Friday at the 45th Annual Asian Development Bank's (ADB) board of governors meeting .
"For growth to be meaningful, it has to be inclusive. It is with this principle in mind that we have allocated unprecedented sums to alleviate extreme poverty, and are concentrating on providing more opportunities for employment," Aquino said.
The President added that the government has identified three sectors that will have the most impact on inclusive growth in the country.
"Agriculture has experienced a 51.3-percent increase in its budget this year, for example. We are also going all-out in our 'It’s more fun in the Philippines' tourism campaign, along with a more liberalized air policy to increase access to the country’s secondary gateways," he said.
Aquino added that the government is also set to roll out 10 public-private partnerships this year, which will include schools and extensions to train systems.
Earlier, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda urged Asian countries to promote inclusive growth in the region, where several million people still live on less than $1.25 a day.
"While the region can be proud of its record on poverty reduction, much remains to be done," Kuroda said. "Growth in itself is therefore not enough; only through inclusive growth will this tremendous challenge be met."
The ADB president said removing constraints to inclusive growth is key to the multilateral financial institution's development strategies in the region.
He said that on a larger scale, the bank's support for economic corridor development across central and southeast Asia will enhance people's mobility and transport of goods, which will allow the poorest communities to access services and economic opportunities.
"Here in the Philippines, the ADB-supported conditional cash transfer program (CCT) is transforming the lives of poor children and poor families. In its pilot phase, school completion rates rose and health indicators improved substantially, paving the way to a brighter future for the country's youth," Kuroda said.
Aquino said the government’s CCT program grew nearly fourfold over the past two years, from P10 billion pesos in 2010, catering to about 800,000 families, to P39.4 billion this year for over three million families.
"All of these we were able to do without raising taxes," he said.