PH gov’t vows to sustain country’s economic growth

Malacañang on Monday, April 23, vowed to support the country’s economic growth by solid macroeconomic fundamentals and sustained investments in infrastructure and social services.

Palace Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. made the remark as he welcome two recent studies projecting the Philippine economy to grow by at least 6.8 percent for the first quarter of 2018.

In a report released over the weekend, Moody’s Analytics said the Philippine economy is currently in a “sweet spot.”

“The Philippine economy likely grew 6.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter,” it said in a report. “The economy is in somewhat of a sweet spot. Consumer spending is rising at a healthy pace thanks to steady inflows of overseas worker remittances and a firm labor market.”

It also noted that the country’s “investment has been robust and is likely to remains strong as the government boosts infrastructure development,” while “the upswing in external demand is lifting exports.”

“With these factors and favorable demographics, the Philippines s likely to remain one of the fastest growing economies in the region in coming years,” Moody’s Analytics said.

The country’s official gross domestic product (GDP) growth data will be released next month. The possible 6.8 result would be an improvement from last year’s 6.4 percent.

Welcoming the report, Malacañang said: “We guarantee that the country’s robust economic growth will be supported by solid macroeconomic fundamentals and sustained investments in infrastructure and social services, such as education, health and social protection.”

Malacañang also welcomed the latest findings of Oxford Business Group in Asean CEO Survey, which found that “investors’ sentiment and business prospects for the Philippines remain upbeat.”

“The Philippines also ranked highest in the Asean region in terms of projected gross domestic product growth, with business leaders forecasting the Philippine GDP growth between 6 to 8%,” Roque added.

The Palace official then guaranteed that the Duterte administration “remains on track in accelerating the country’s growth rate by improving the ease of doing business to transform the country into the one of the world’s leading investment destinations.”