Press Release December 2, 2009 INFRA, HUMAN CAPITAL DEV'T WILL ALLOW RP
Sponsoring the national budget for fiscal year 2010, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance Senator Edgardo J. Angara said the budget is carefully targeted to maintain the country's growth by pump priming the economy to prevent it from contracting and to save more people from falling into poverty, especially as the global economy is just recovering from the financial crisis. Illustrating the need to maintain a steady growth level for the country, Angara said that "a 1% drop in GDP growth is equal to a 1.35% rise in poverty incidence. In other words, an additional 930,000 people will fall below the poverty line for every 1% GDP drop. That is why we need to keep growing." The 2010 budget is two-pronged: first, allowing the economy to grow through massive investment in infrastructure and human capital development, and secondly, sustaining that growth through the promotion of clean technologies and renewable energy. "We are moving into a new phase of economic competitiveness, one that highlights the importance of infrastructure and human capital development: education, health and sanitation, environment, food production, and science and technology (S&T) as drivers of the nation's growth," he said. He added, "Greening the country is another integral component of our development agenda - harnessing our rich natural resources and protecting the environment for sustainable growth. At this day and age, environmental protection is not a choice - it is a necessity." Among the major components of the P1.541 Trillion national budget for 2010 are:
|
Tuesday, April 23
|