Moderate economic growth in the Philippines in recent years did not translate to poverty reduction, which has been slower compared to the country's neighbors, said an Asian Development Bank report released Thursday.

Household poverty rose by 2.5 percentage points to 26.9 percent from 2003 to 2006, and the number of poor people swelled by nearly 4 million people to 27.6 million despite an average domestic economic growth rate of 5.3 percent for the period, it said.

The level of inequality among Filipinos - who currently number around 90 million today - has hardly changed for more than 20 years and remains high compared to other countries in Asia, limiting the beneficial impact of economic growth on poverty, said the study.

The report also said the Philippine poverty reduction rate of 0.47 percent per year between 1990 to 2005 was slower than in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, adding that only in the Philippines has the overall number of poor people increased during that period.

The Manila-based lender said to blame are low to moderate economic growth for the past 40 years, high population growth, weakness in job generation, failure to fully develop agriculture, recurrent conflicts and natural disasters.

The ADB said there was a need to enhance government's strategy to address vulnerability and shocks, tackle chronic poverty and define pathways out of poverty.  Serious attention must be given to population management, reforming institutions that implement poverty programs, and raising more funds to address needs.

Official data on poverty used in the ADB report are measured and released by the government every three years. The latest report was in 2006.  ADB said there was a need to enhance the quality and timeliness of data and that methods used by the government may be underestimating poverty in the country.