Cory: 600 million Asians still live on US$1 a day
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 08/29/2008 8:22 PM
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Former President Corazon Aquino has called for the promotion of microenterprises to help lift people out of poverty, noting that 600 million Asians still live on just US$1 a day.
In a speech at the Ramon Magsaysay awards' first Asia Forum, Mrs. Aquino urged various sectors to boost small enterprises.
“Many of you are familiar with the disturbing facts that make the Asian success stories somewhat of a paradox: 600 million Asians still live on US$1 a day while another 60% of the region’s population subsist on less than US$2 a day. Reducing poverty in Asia requires more than just economic growth. Such growth needs to be anchored through a program that will enable people in the region to become economically-productive citizens who would share in the task of ensuring a sustainable future,” she said.
Mrs. Aquino won the Ramon Magsasay Award for Peace and International Understanding in 1998.
Aquino added that in helping the poor, the government should not settle on handing out dole outs, but should develop sustainable economic projects.
Unlike dole outs, she said these projects not only help lift the poor out of poverty but they also make them social change agents.
Arroyo said it has been her dream to use people power as a force to eliminate poverty.
She said various sectors, including non-government organizations, rural banks, and cooperatives, should help boost microenterprises and gradually bring the poor in the country’s business mainstream.
Aquino set a goal of expanding the reach of microfinance institutions to more than five million in depressed regions and raising P5 billion within five years.
She said the five million clients approximates the population living below the poverty line in the country, while the P5 billion is the minimum amount needed to augment the current equity and deposit base of the microfinance institutions.
