NEDA’s definition of ‘food poor’ based on P64 daily meal spend

Metro Manila, Philippines – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) defines individuals who spend less than P64 a day on meals as "food poor," a metric questioned by senators.

“As of 2023, the monthly food threshold for a family of five is P9,581. That comes out to about P64 per person,” NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan told senators in a briefing on Tuesday.

Senator Nancy Binay expressed disbelief at the statement.

“Pero three meals ho yon diba? So parang lumalabas ho P20 per person per meal. Sa tingin niyo po ba that number is sufficient, yung P20?” Binay said.

[Translation: But that's for three meals, right? So it seems to be P20 per person per meal. Do you think that amount, P20, is sufficient?]

Senator Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate committee on finance, said this needs to be adjusted.

“Because when you compute poverty thresholds using an old number which is obviously not workable anymore, P20 per meal eh hindi totoo yung poverty ano ninyo, poverty forecast (your poverty forecast not true),” Poe said.

Balisacan explained that the figure has risen from P55 in 2021 and is expected to increase to P67 this year.

He noted that the Department of Health and the Food and Nutrition Research Institute established what constitutes a reasonable food basket to meet nutritional needs.

Balisacan acknowledged the need to review the threshold.

“Ngayon po yung per meal po kasi napaka very basic lang yung basket (Currently, the meals are based on a very basic basket)... Of course with the growth of the economy, as I said maybe we should revisit that because preferences could have changed already, the relative prices have changed,” Balisacan said.

“We’ll be revisiting,” he added.

Economic managers forming the Development Budget Coordination Committee briefed the Senate Committee on Finance on the proposed P6.532 trillion national spending plan for next year, explaining that it was based on inflation and other economic data.