Next NEDA Chief Outlines His Priorities Under the Marcos Administration

Philippine Competition Commission chairperson Arsenio Balicasan has, once again, been nominated to become the head of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). Balicasan previously served the same role under the Aquino administration from 2012 to 2016. In his recent interviews, he laid out several priorities he aims to accomplish as the incoming Socioeconomic Planning Secretary under the Marcos administration. Balicasan highlights, in particular, the importance of reviving and strengthening the manufacturing sector as a process to alleviate poverty.

“The lessons of recent history is if you have a robust manufacturing sector in the early stages of your development, poverty reduction is so fast and is likely sustainable,” he explained. Balicasan further suggested that the country’s forefront measures for economic development should be the elimination of potential concerns of investors that entail lagging digitization.

“We all hear complaints about the state of our digitization and also in my current work, vigorously enforcing competition policy to ensure that sectors in the economy, like manufacturing, do not have barriers to entry that prevent potential investors from coming in,” he said. He also stressed the interdependency between digitization and ease of doing business as an indicator for investors to increase their capital inflows to the country. “If you look at international comparisons of countries, you’ll see that the ease of doing business in this country is terrible. And it’s improved quite substantially but it’s slow improvement. We need to do so much more,” Balicasan added.

Focus on social protection, education, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) program, and other poverty-reduction projects are expected to be maintained in the interim of these proposed plans. Balicasan notes the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the gains in poverty reduction. He said the 2021 Poverty rate data will likely be worse compared to preceding annual data. The poverty rate had been steadily decreasing from 23.5% in 2015 to 16.7% in 2018.

Furthermore, the Build, Build, Build program, being one of the poverty-reduction projects under the Duterte administration, generated jobs for many Filipinos, especially during the lockdown period. However, it also increased the national debt of the country which is already at ₱12.68 trillion, and a debt-to-GDP ratio of 63.5% would once again be reviewed by Balicasan. The incoming NEDA chief will also look into the pending infrastructure projects under the Build, Build, Build program.

“We are not going to stop anything that is ongoing. It is clear that we have to continue what is there. Obviously, if it is obviously wrong, the infrastructure, you have to do something about that.” he said. Likewise, Balicasan stressed the importance of striking the balance between economic growth and poverty alleviation. NEDA, in particular, should be “prudent” in spending, especially on infrastructure.

“You want to push for world-class infrastructure, but health is in crisis, education is in crisis, so we need to go back and reflect on what is really fundamental. What is development? For me, development should be shared by all, especially the poor. I would like to see that. The growth we put in place must be highly inclusive,” Balicasan elaborated.

“We need to balance the infrastructure on the one hand and social protection, health, and education. What do you do with world-class infrastructure, when your people are getting ranked, their children are ranked poorly, the poorest in the region? That is the dilemma.” concluded the incoming NEDA chief. A meeting between Balicasan and current NEDA officials is set to take place prior to the inauguration of President-elect Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr.

Sources: ABS CBN, Inquirer