Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said he expects the economy to grow beyond 6 percent this year after the budget impasse was resolved in April.
“Even though the 5.6-percent GDP growth in the first quarter was lower than expected, now the national budget for 2019 has been enacted, the DoF continues to expect GDP growth to surpass 6 percent by the end of the year,” Dominguez said in a recent discussion with representatives of Oxford Business Group.
Dominguez also cited the wide-ranging economic impact of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion package 1 that took effect in January last year.
Dominguez said the Train law attained 108.1 percent of its revenue target in 2018, enabling the government to increase public infrastructure investment.
“By 2020, the DoF aims to have all tax reform packages in place, including the reduction of the corporate income tax from 30 percent to 20 percent and the reduction in the number of capital income tax rates from 80 to 42,” he said.
Large-scale infrastructure development is a priority for the current administration under the umbrella of its flagship “Build, Build, Build” program which covers 75 priority projects.