President Aquino: “Inclusivity is most critical to sustainable growth”
Echoing the APEC 2015 priorities of inclusiveness and sustainability, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said that the most critical element of sustainable growth is prosperity that is felt by more sectors of society, especially ones in the margins.
Speaking at the APEC CEO Summit, President Aquino shared a personal conviction that shaped his government's policies: having a vision firmly set on improving the lives of the country's poor.
"We will have important conversations about how we can free our people from the oppression of poverty, and how to empower them to take part in sustainable economic growth," said President Aquino.
Guided by the belief that the only real growth is one that’s inclusive, the President went on to speak about the systematic way with which his government implemented initiatives to improve the lives of the Filipino people.
"We resolved that trickle-down economics was not the way forward," said President Aquino. "Thus, inclusive growth became the north star of national policy—growth that truly helps each and every Filipino lift themselves up from poverty, and play a meaningful role in continuing our country’s growth story."
President Aquino said that the country's greatest resource is its people, which led to increased public investment in social welfare and education.
"From 2010 to 2015, our Social Welfare and Development Budget increased sevenfold, our Department of Education’s Budget essentially doubled, and our Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s Budget increased by 84.0 percent," the President shared.
This, he said, and the government's efforts to improve connectivity in the country by improving infrastructure, opened up opportunities for human resource development.
"I am told that we are nearing the absorptive capacity of the government to implement these infrastructure projects, which means that we need more engineers," said President Aquino.
"Indeed, our entire growth strategy hinges on the idea of empowerment. Empowered citizens, after all, are empowered consumers, whose income will go to the goods and services produced by companies,” he explained. “The end result: Instead of having many big fish in a small pond, we are moving our economic ecosystem into a bigger pond, where everybody can grow and reach their full potential."
"You have seen how our economy has become one of the fastest growing in the world, and how we have quickly risen in global measures of competitiveness," he said. The President reported initial results of the country's social welfare and development statistics, revealing some 5.45 million Filipinos who have been lifted from poverty.
“I share our story with you today because I believe we can do this on a regional scale; I believe if we work with each other’s economies, and if we harness the strengths of all our peoples, we can give rise not only to inclusive national economies, but to an Asia-Pacific where our citizens truly know what we talk about when we say `growth`,” said President Aquino.
“If we can include our people in public life, in determining the path to our future, and in building our economy, it redounds to a more stable environment and to greater economic.”
# # #
For further details, please contact:
Ma. Lizbeth S. B. Edra +65 9452 8344 at [email protected]
Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 at [email protected]
More on APEC meetings, events, projects and publications can be found on www.apec.org. You can also follow APEC on Twitter and join us on Facebook and LinkedIn.