World Bank: More efficient social protection for poor Filipinos needed

MANILA  -Social protection for poor Filipinos more efficiently against economic shocks continues to be a vital task for the government as the Philippines remains in the grip of high inflation and other risks occurring here as well as abroad, according to the World Bank.

The multilateral lender said this even as it revised upward its forecast growth for Philippine gross domestic product in 2023 to 6 percent from the 5.4-percent forecast in December. The World Bank said the higher forecast was driven by domestic consumption and investment.

“It is essential to sustain improvements in social protection to help families, especially the poor and vulnerable, cope with economic difficulties as the country navigates the global slowdown, budget constraints, high prices of basic commodities, and climate-related risks,” said

, the World Bank’s country director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand.

Diop said in a press briefing that the economic outlook for the Philippines faces global risks such as the possibility of rising global inflation, higher global interest rates, and an escalation of geopolitical tensions brought about by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Within the country, high inflation remains a risk to the economic outlook due to several factors including natural disasters affecting food supply, the threat of El Niño that could further constrain food production, logistics and supply chain challenges, and pressure from domestic demand.

The World Bank’s Philippine Economic Update report says that ensuring an efficient delivery of social protection programs would require speeding up current government reforms, including adoption of the national ID system for social protection delivery, updating the targeting system for identifying poor and vulnerable families, innovations in digital payment systems and strengthening financing mechanisms and readiness for disaster response