Youths are pictured at at a slum area in Baseco, Tondo city, metro Manila, Philippines [Source: Reuters]

The Philippines’ poverty rate dropped to 15.5% last year from 18.1% in 2021, with rising food prices limiting the reduction in the number of poor, the government’s statistics agency said on Thursday.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said there were 17.54 million people living below the poverty line, a decrease of 2.4 million from the previous survey two years earlier.

The PSA considers individuals as “poor” if their incomes are not enough to buy basic food and non-food needs.

The government aims to reduce poverty incidence to 9% by the end of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s term in office in 2028.

The average inflation rate last year was 6.0%, well above the central bank’s 2% to 4% comfort range.

PSA conducts a family income and expenses survey every two years to determine poverty incidence and other income indicators. Over 160,000 families were interviewed for the survey, PSA said.