Philippines has one of the lowest R & D appropriations in the region
MANILA – Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato dela Peña said the Philippines has one of the lowest appropriations for Research and Development among the five original members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“We are one of the lowest in terms of government expenditures for Research and Development among five original members of the ASEAN (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand),” Secretary dela Pena said during the “Virtual Presser” hosted by the Presidential Communications Operations Office at midday today.
He said Singapore’s R&D budget is more than three percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while Malaysia and Thailand have higher percentage which is higher than one percent.
“We hope we could at least have one percent of GDP earmarked for Research and Development, but we are in the neighborhood of .15 or .16% of GDP from both the government and the private sector,” he said.
From a total government budget of P4.5 trillion, DOST has P23.8 billion which is simply .5 percent.
“We have one of the lowest budget appropriations compared to the UNESCO standard of one percent,” he added. (Melo M. Acuña)
Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato dela Pena. (Screen grab from PCOO Virtual Presser)
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