Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the Duterte administration’s aggressive measures to tame domestic inflation and sustain the country’s growth momentum would be key to “weather the storm” looming over the economy.
Dominguez cited some of the global risks that could impact the economy such as the prolonged US-China trade tensions and the oil price surge in the world market.
Dominguez said the government began addressing the issue of rising inflation as early as May this year with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas having increased interest rates since that time up to the present by a combined 150 basis points.
He said the executive branch also took strong non-monetary measures to temper price increases, as a result of food supply issues and the soaring global oil prices.
“We are confident that we can weather the storms but we are not complacent,” said Dominguez in an interview.
He said a protracted US-China trade dispute would eventually have an adverse impact on the Philippine economy, which, however, was “in a very good position” to overcome this challenge.