THE Philippine economy may grow 7 to 8 percent in the last quarter of the year on the back of greater economic activity in the October to December period, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
In a briefing after the meeting of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said this level of growth in the last quarter of the year will allow the economy to hit the 5 to 5.5 percent GDP growth target this year.
The DBCC revised its growth target in 2021 and retained the 7 to 9 percent target in 2022 as well as 6 to 7 percent in 2023 and 2024.
“I do not have the exact number but I think the fourth quarter growth should be also around 7 to 8 percent year on year to hit the 5 to 5.5 [percent], more or less. That is where we are heading and I hope we can do better,” Chua said.
“And the good news is, even as we increase the mobility, even as we allow children to go out, even as we open the pilot of schools, the cases and deaths [are] all [going] down. So that is a very good sign that we are on track to achieving more [growth],” he explained.
Chua said that while the discovery of the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, has been made, the jury was still out in terms of declaring that it is a variant that is more contagious and can lead to more cases and deaths.
He said until health experts come up with a better understanding of the variant, it would be difficult to assess how it will impact on the Philippine economy.
Nonetheless, Chua said, the country is controlling its borders and that the majority of Filipinos continue to live safely within Philippine borders. This, he said, has been encouraging.
The DBCC again stressed in its statement that the government is ready to reopen the economy to Alert Level 1 by January 2022. The government remains confident that its efforts to contain the virus will allow the country to recover from the pandemic.
“The cases have been falling significantly. Severe and critical cases are very low. Hospitals are very much open. There are many available beds and the economy continues to grow,” Chua said.
The DBCC said the government has built on the country’s economic gains and successful vaccination drive in 2021. With this, the Economic Development Cluster crafted the 10-point policy agenda to shift the country from a pandemic to an endemic paradigm.
The 10-point policy agenda covers the following areas: 1) metrics; 2) vaccination; 3) healthcare capacity; 4) economy and mobility; 5) schooling; 6) domestic travel; 7) international travel; 8) digital transformation; 9) pandemic flexibility bill; and 10) medium-term preparation for pandemic resilience.
