FAILURE to decisively address persistent flooding and other climate issues could make it significantly harder for the Philippines to move beyond lower middle-income status, a former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) official said.

Writing for New-York based financial consulting firm GlobalSource Partners, former BSP deputy governor Diwa Guinigundo pointed out that inadequate disaster preparedness was behind the extensive damage caused by severe tropical storm Kristine, which battered most of Luzon last week and left over a hundred people dead.