Phil calls for “inclusive business”

For new beating poverty model

PASAY CITY, Manila November 13, (PIA)—The Philippine echoes the call for Building Better Economies, Building a Better World as it calls for inclusive economic growth by addressing poverty. 

No less than the Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary Adrian Cristobal, speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) High Level Dialogue on Inclusive Business at the Rigodon Hall of the Peninsula Manila, called for the reform and reminded the top economists of the noted widening gulf between the rich and the poor, despite the per capita income growth. 

The Asia-Pacific region remains global growth leader at present and is expected to remain as sucn in the medium term, Usec. Cristobal said.

Despite an economic slowdown, the Philippine economist said the International Monetary Fund projects for APEC a favorable economic outlook in 2016 which could equal or surpass 2015 at 5.4%.

In the Philippines, Cristobal said the experience mirrors the APEC forecasts: the country making big in strong consumption figures, fresh investments, foreign remittances and an exceptional performance of retail and trade services as wll as business process outsourcing industries in 2015, posting a 5.6% Gross Domestic Product growth. 

But even with the country’s robust economic performance, poverty remains a challenge with one in every for Filipinos subsisting below $1.25 a day.

Through the years, a range of models and approaches have been implemented and governments are now realizing that public policies and state programs should be complemented by business-driven solution to poverty, he said.

Here, the Philippine Economy suggests Inclusive Business as a viable solution to poverty alleviation. 

By inclusive business, he means innovative models where companies engage the poor and low income communities as partners, customers and suppliers in their supply chains not out of charity but because it makes a perfect good sense, Cristobal urged. 

The integration of these communities in the global value chains improves the quality of life and makes for better business with diversified supply and distribution value chains, he argued amidst the region’s top official economists.

To elucidate his point, Usec Cristobal shares the Philippine’s top inclusive business models: Kennemer foods cacao business venture, Nestle’s NESCAFE Plan and Manila Water’s Tubig para sa barangay. (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)