Philippine Economic Briefing-Cebu
April 19, 2018
Good morning.
It is a delight to be here before a full house. I wanted to recommend to the organizers — I understand that we’ve not had an economic briefing for quite some time, and I guess this really shows the interest of the leaders, the movers and shakers of Cebu with respect to the plans and progress of the government. I wanted to suggest to the organizers, perhaps you can make it a full-day session, maybe get a bigger ballroom, or maybe increase the registration fees.
On behalf of my principal, Secretary of Finance Carlos G. Dominguez, it’s my pleasure to thank you for your attentiveness throughout this rather long briefing. As the briefing is going on, I was looking around, I noticed that everyone was really paying attention. I was thinking, either they had very good, strong coffee here or you were really interested. And I’d like to believe that it’s the second reason.
Anyway, our intention here is to give you the comprehensive backstory to the headline numbers of our outstanding economic performance. We are now one of the best performing economies in Asia because of the ease-of-doing-business reforms we have instituted. The Asian Development Bank (ADB), in fact, forecast what it has called a “golden age” for our country’s economic development.
We are maintaining our growth target for this year at 7 percent or better. It is easy to see why this is achievable. Our infrastructure investments, estimated at 170 billion US dollars between now and 2022, have very high multiplier effects. By undertaking these thoroughly studied strategic projects, we will stimulate economic activity. Jobs and opportunities will be created, and we are confident we can bring down poverty incidence to only 14 percent by 2022.
The comprehensive tax reform program will help us create the incremental revenues we need to fund the infrastructure program. In addition to our increased budget outlay, the program is helped by grants and concessional loans extended in the form of official development assistance from our friends in the region. Add to all these the financing support we receive from multilateral institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank (WB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
Allow me to cite four of the major projects that have been identified as part of the 75 Flagship infrastructure projects and are already approved by the NEDA board to be undertaken in Visayas under the Build, Build, Build program. Since last year, we have been working on the upgrade of the operations and maintenance of the New Bohol Airport. This year, we expect to begin work on the New Cebu International Container Port. Next year, we will begin work on the further improvement of the Iloilo International Airport and the Bacolod-Silay International Airport.
We will also look to build a number of large bridges that will link islands within the Visayas, as well as connect the Visayas islands to Luzon. Among these projects to be submitted to the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) are the construction of a bridge to connect Samar provinces to the main island of Luzon; a bridge connecting Leyte to Mindanao Island through either an Underwater Tunnel Bridge or a Long-Span Overhead Bridge; the Panay-Guimaras-Iloilo Link Bridge; the Bohol-Lapinig Island bridge; Cebu to Negros Link Bridge, and; the Cebu to Bohol Link Bridge. These bridges will provide growth corridors and ensure that none of the major islands of the Visayas will be left behind in the country’s race to progress.
In addition, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is working round the clock to construct the road networks that will make these bridges truly meaningful as growth corridors for the island economies in Central Philippines.
The Build, Build, Build program is in full swing. We are continuing with our comprehensive tax reform program. Investment flows into our economy will continue to rise dramatically.
Our people will feel the economic benefits of these projects very soon. The nation is moving strongly towards achieving a high middle-income status in a few years.
Be assured that President Duterte is fully committed to the overall economic program that will make our growth more inclusive, our people more prosperous and our communities stronger and safer.
Once again, thank you and have a good day.
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