MORE Filipinos will benefit from the economy’s growth through a more intensive Philippine Statistical Development Plan (PSDP).
Ronaldo Taghap, Philippine Statistics Authority in Central Visayas (PSA 7) director, said statistics serve as the basis of economic planners and policy makers in crafting development programs.
“We cannot plan if there are no numbers,” Regional Director Ronaldo Taghap of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) at the sidelines of a forum in a Cebu City hotel on Tuesday.
Taghap said the forum was meant to inform stakeholders about updates on the Philippine Statistical Development Plan (PSDP) 2011-2017 and how they can contribute to achieve its goals.
Statistics play a vital role in development planning as it determines how many doctors, teachers, or engineers should be hired in the next five to 10 years and disclose how many roads are needed and where it should be built in the same period.
The Philippine economy grew on an average year-on-year rate of 6.9 percent during the first half of 2016 and economists predict this uptrend to continue until the end of the year.
Despite the robust economy the country is enjoying, 1 out of 4 Filipinos still live in poverty. Taghap said better data will result to better planning and better programs for every Filipino.