December 19, 2022 – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) assured the public that it will work closely with the implementing agencies, the Legislature, and other stakeholders to carry out the strategies and attain the objectives and targets set in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028.

Following the NEDA Board’s approval of the Plan last December 16, NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan highlighted the importance of the swift completion of the PDP as this will serve as the country’s roadmap for the reinvigoration of job creation and acceleration of poverty reduction in the medium term.

“The timely adoption of the PDP as the country’s development roadmap shall ensure the alignment of government resources, programs, projects, and activities along with the identified strategies that will enable us to achieve our desired socioeconomic objectives. In light of our limited fiscal space, I cannot overemphasize how critical coordination is to obtain the maximum impact from our policies,” he said.

During the #AskNEDA year-end media briefing held on December 19, 2022, Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning Sarah Daway-Ducanes presented the salient features of the PDP 2023-2028, which seeks to address both short-term issues and medium-term constraints to growth and inclusion.

The PDP is composed of sixteen chapters covering the social and production sectors, as well as institutions and the environment as the elements of an enabling landscape. The Plan lays out the corresponding strategies including policies, programs, and legislative priorities that are needed to achieve identified socioeconomic targets. Through a whole-of-society and whole-of-government process, the Plan benefited from the inputs of various stakeholders as well as those of sectoral experts.

The Plan also features six cross-cutting strategies which will facilitate economic and social transformation. These include: the digitalization of the economy and government; the improvement of the local and global connectivity of Philippine markets; servicification or the building of service-sector ecosystems around manufacturing clusters; building a dynamic innovation system; public-private partnerships (PPPs); and strong collaboration between the local and national government in light of the devolution of critical social services.

Balisacan also provided a list of the NEDA’s priorities for 2023. Chief among these are the steering and coordination of PDP 2023-2028 implementation as the agency finalizes the Regional Development Plans, the Public Investment Program (PIP) for 2023-2028 and the Three-year Rolling Infrastructure Plan (TRIP) for FY 2024-2026. The NEDA will also monitor plan implementation and generate the 2023 Socioeconomic Report and Regional Development Reports for 2022.

“Together, we must build on and sustain our hard-won gains as a nation. This imperative comes as we aim to recover and secure our position among the most dynamic economies of Asia and the world. Filled with hope for the coming year, we assure you of our unwavering commitment to stay the course and tirelessly work toward attaining our vision of a matatag, maginhawa, at panatag na buhay for all Filipinos,” he ended.

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