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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Dominguez: Infra spending to keep economy growing

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Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III told American businessmen that the government’s accelerated spending on infrastructure and human capital will keep the country on a high-growth trajectory despite the global economic slowdown.

Dominguez said in a Philippine economic briefing in Washington D.C. that the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte was spending heavily on “Build, Build, Build” program and on human capital development to drive growth.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III

He said these unprecedented public investments would provide the highest returns both in the short run and long term, complemented by game-changing reforms and strong macroeconomic fundamentals on the back of prudent fiscal management and a stable monetary policy. 

Dominguez said the government was also banking on this three-fold strategy to counter the external headwinds that threatened efforts to keep the domestic economy among the fastest growing in the world.

“Forecasts for global growth have been cut successively over the recent months.  The slowdown presents headwinds on our own efforts to grow our economy. But the Philippines continues to demonstrate strength, stability and resilience in adverse conditions,” he said.

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“We hope to sustain our growth, relying on strong domestic demand to offset the general international uncertainty,” Dominguez said.

The roundtable lunch meeting was also participated in by representatives from the US government, various industries and sectors, economic think-tanks and the private sector.

The lunch meeting was held at the residence of Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez.

The gross domestic product grew by 5.5 percent in the first half, slower than the target of 6 percent to 7 percent for the entire year partly because of the delayed approval of the 2019 budget.

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