NEDA to review development plan

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) will review the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) for 2011-2016 this quarter to align goals with recent economic developments.

Economic Planning Secretary and NEDA Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan said recent developments such as the recently bared growth targets and infrastructure program for the rest of the term of the Aquino administration made the plan “a bit off.”

“There’s now a greater opportunity to connect between what we do and what is in the plan. This review of the PDP is an attempt to identify where we are in terms of that connection and, in the process, examine the Public Investment Program,” Balisacan said in an interview with reporters Wednesday.

The PDP is the national blueprint for inclusive, high and sustained growth that will generate massive employment and significantly reduce poverty.

“We will start the process of updating the Philippine Development Plan…so that by that time we completed the third year of the administration, we should already have that plan. Along with that will be the Public Investment Program,” he said.

Neda seeks to have updated PDP and PIP by July next year.

The review, he said, would also take into consideration the new executive order on mining.