Showing posts with label social services. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social services. Show all posts

PostHeaderIcon For poverty reduction, RP gets a $405 million loan from World Bank



To lessen the incidence of poverty and hunger, the World Bank (WB) makes available a $405 million loan for the Philippines to support projects that will alleviate the impoverished condition of about 350,000 households.

About 1 in 6 people worldwide experiences hunger each day and poor Filipinos are no exception. To lessen the incidence of poverty and hunger, the World Bank (WB) makes available a $405 million loan for the Philippines to support projects that will alleviate the impoverished condition of about 350,000 households.

About 1 in 6 people worldwide experiences hunger each day and poor Filipinos are no exception. By estimates, the number of individuals suffering from lack of food will reach 1 billion this year throughout the world as the economy stalls. Cielito Habito, an economics professor of Ateneo de Manila says of the 90 million Filipinos, 35% (31.5 million) of them live below the poverty line. It is unlikely that the country, a UN-member nation, will meet its goal of reducing poverty to half its rate by 2015.

To counter the effects of poverty, international groups help indigent nations in maternal and child health, education, employment, and food production. Such money allocated for these projects are needed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in assisting families come out of economic difficulties.

The WB assistance must go hand-in-hand with the government addressing problems of the economy--- particularly the concentration of economic growth benefits in cities and lack of them in the countryside. (Photo Credit: mykworks) =0=

RELATED BLOG: "Donations sought for this year’s 1 billion hungry people worldwide " Posted by mesiamd at 11/16/2009
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PostHeaderIcon California inches close to bankruptcy



Affected by the biggest recession gripping the country, the state of California has failed to come up with a budget, bringing the golden state near financial insolvency. The state is spending like crazy more than it can generate income. Government revenue is down by 27%. Business has been slow forcing companies to down-size or stop operation.

If no budget is agreed upon, the state is expected to run out of money by the end of July.

“It will run out of cash within weeks if it does not balance its books, leaving it little option but to postpone a variety of payments, according to State Controller John Chiang, who estimated last week that California was "less than 50 days away from a meltdown of state government."---Reuters (06/15/09, Christie, J; Gevirtz, L.)

California's income has dwindled with rising joblessness rate of 11% and unchecked housing crisis making it hard to close the budget gap of about $24 billion. One option is to cut spending --- the curtailment of entitlements and welfare programs including health insurance.

Budget cuts may be needed by putting teachers, firefighters and police officers out of work and stopping medical-care services. More taxes could be levelled on the residents to generate income. Unlike in the past, Californians are learning to live within their means just lilke Americans across the country. (Photo Credit: Jose Antonio Galloso) =0=

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