Leaders of the House of Representatives have discussed the Marcos administration’s Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF) goals in a meeting with Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno and other officials.
Among the top objectives, according to House leaders, is the reduction of poverty to 9 percent by 2028 from its present level of 23.7 percent.
The Philippine Statistics Authority said that for 2021 (first semester), 26.14 million Filipinos lived below the poverty threshold estimated at P12,082 for a family of five per month.
MTFF goals also included 6.5 to 7.5 percent real gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2022; 6.5 to 8 percent GDP growth annually between 2023 to 2028; 3 percent national government deficit to GDP ratio by 2028; and less than 60 percent national government debt-to-GDP ratio by 2025.
Diokno, according to Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, invited House leaders to his new office to improve communication and cooperation between the Executive and Legislative departments.
Lawmakers vowed support for the six-year fiscal plan, which the chamber adopted last Monday under House Concurrent Resolution No. 2. Nonetheless, Romualdez said that they had a brief debate about the MTFF of the Marcos administration.
House Appropriations Committee vice chair Stella Quimbo previously said that the MTFF objectives are doable.
“These projections are well-founded and could be discussed more in detail during the budget deliberations,” said Quimbo, the incumbent representative of Marikina’s second congressional district.
The Speaker, however, described the conversation as “fruitful,” adding that they hoped to consult with him again soon.