Philippine Economic Briefing
September 18, 2018
Fellow workers in government, friends in the media, good afternoon.
The Philippine economy is strong. This year, we will again be among the top performers in the region. The momentum is being sustained by policy and infrastructure reforms. Firm and decisive political leadership pushes forward these reforms.
All the elements of sustained, vigorous and inclusive growth are evident. Investments have risen sharply in the first half of the year. Our enterprises, anticipating a growing domestic market, are importing more capital goods. In the short term, this may put pressure on the exchange rate and gross international reserves. But in the longer term, this is indicative of strong capacity building.
Our revenue agencies — the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs — have been exceeding targets quarter after quarter. Expanded revenues will ensure our fiscal stability. We have today an even stronger fiscal capacity to support the investments in the economy.
The adept management of our fiscal affairs has also been recognized both by way of improved credit rating outlooks as well as by the tight spreads given the foreign denominated bonds we have floated in the past few months.
With strong investor interest, support from our development partners and the decisive leadership to get things done, we expect the infrastructure program to hit its stride in the coming months. The massive investments in infrastructure will help stimulate our growth even more.
While the inflation rate kicked up in the first quarter of this year, we do not see this as a structural infirmity. It is a transient phenomenon that all of government is now mobilizing to deal with decisively.
Sometimes, we get distracted by the cloud and fail to appreciate the rainbow. The inflation rate has been front and center in the public conversation about our economy. We hope you can help us reassert the broader narrative of strong growth and determined reforms.
Thank you and good day.
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