THE budget secretary and lawmakers weighed in on Thursday’s report of a robust GDP growth in the third quarter, citing what they think make this possible.
Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said the economic managers attributed the surprising economic performance in the third quarter to the “continuing efforts” to “push and open” the economy.
This includes the reopening of face-to-face classes, faster vaccination rollout and various initiatives to cut unemployment and poverty incidence in the country, Pangandaman added.
“The growth rate was also due in large part to faster growth in wholesale and retail services, financial and insurance activities, and the construction industry,” Pangandaman said.
Pangandaman said the 7.6-percent economic expansion in the third quarter jumpstarts the 24-quarter economic “recovery and transformation” under the Marcos Jr. administration.
“The positive growth is consistent with the overall goal of the current administration to reinvigorate job creation and poverty reduction,” she said.
“The Q3 GDP and fiscal performance is expected to steer the economy back to its high-growth path in the near-term,” she added.
Senators hopeful
Senators, meanwhile, gave mixed views Thursday on whether or not they see the Philippine economy sustaining the third quarter growth till the yearend.
Responding to the BusinessMirror, administration Senator Christopher Go aired hopes “we will sustain this remarkably fast acceleration of our economy, now the second fastest in Southeast Asia, especially as we recover from the pandemic.”
For his part, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara struck a positive outlook on the growth target. “We are hopeful the momentum and the growth from the first three quarters will continue into the last quarter of the year and that our growth target will be achieved and possibly surpassed.”
“We need to grow more to lift people out of poverty and create more and better jobs,” Angara, chairman of the Finance committee, added.
For his part, Go said: “This economic performance is no overnight miracle. I hope that we will continue to sustain the many gains achieved by the previous Duterte administration and the current Marcos administration as we march towards full and inclusive recovery soon.”
Citing the National Economic and Development Authority, Go said “this high GDP growth rate is brought about largely by increased mobility of people, owing to relaxed travel protocols.
Hence, the administration senator affirmed that “as chair of the Senate Committee on Health, I continue to reiterate the need to further improve our vaccination efforts against Covid-19 in order to fully open up more sectors of the economy.”
Goals attainable
The Budget secretary pointed out that the third quarter GDP shows that the government’s socioeconomic objectives can be “achieved” amid a high inflationary environment, tightening monetary policy stance and depreciation of Philippine peso.
“The economic managers hope to sustain this growth by taking advantage of economic opportunities and targeted programs such as the Targeted Cash Transfer [TCT] Program, Fuel Subsidy Program, Fuel Discount Program, and Service Contracting Program,” Pangandaman said.
“This confirms that the outlook for the economy is positive. We continue to support this with a firm fiscal consolidation plan. We can move forward with confidence that the Philippine economy is sound and far from recession,” Pangandaman added.
‘Boom boom economy’
An economist-lawmaker on Thursday described the Philippine economy as showing signs of “exceptional strength” amid global headwinds.
In a news conference, Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda described it as a “Boom Boom economy. “
“The first quarterly report of the Marcos administration is consistent with the bullish projections I released earlier. I note that the consensus of economists for this quarter was 6.2 percent. Apart from my office, which projected 7.5 percent, only one other known prognosticator got it right: Ateneo de Manila University projected growth at 7.7 percent. So, it’s not a fluke. This growth is real,” he said.
“As this report is the first quarterly report of the Marcos administration, allow me to say that it’s PBBM’s economy now. And it is showing signs of exceptional strength amid global headwinds,” he added.
Salceda said that the growth was evident in the Google Mobility Report for Asean countries, which showed the country’s growth with 34 percent more mobility in retail and 38 percent more in workplaces, saying all other areas grew in double digits as well.
“This is the highest mobility growth in Asean—which shows that we were always in the running to have the strongest growth in the region,” he said.
Remittances jumped
According to Salceda, OFW remittance figures also jumped in August, near the end of the quarter.
“Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas [BSP] showed cash remittances sent through banks stood at $2.72 billion in August, higher than the $2.60 billion a year earlier. The growth in remittances was the fastest since 4.4 percent in June. That boosted household consumption,” he added.
“There was also 24.79 percent year-on-year growth in tax collections in September, indicating that economic activity, the base of taxation, was getting stronger,” he added.
The September jobs report also showed that the largest year-on-year jobs gainer was manufacturing, at 1.09 million more jobs, he said.
He added manufacturing jobs growth tends to indicate positive macroeconomic fundamentals. In total, 4 million jobs were created year-on-year by September.
Likewise, he said 1.5 million freelancers with foreign employers are not being accounted for in full in the national income accounts.
“In other words, the signs of strong growth were there,” he added.
Salceda also noted that all demand areas posted quarter-on-quarter growth, indicating that there is momentum for growth.
Salceda said unrestricted movement of people this Christmas season may lead to stronger economic performance with a possible 8 percent fourth quarter GDP growth.
“The 4th quarter, a high-demand quarter due to Christmas spending and bonuses, will likely be better than this quarter. President Marcos’s first year in office will probably notch the strongest GDP performance in the region, and one of the best in Asia,” he said.
“We can sustain this growth, especially given the Marcos administration’s shift from pandemic to endemic mode for Covid-19. Moving forward, the biggest threat to sustaining growth next year is still inflation. As I advised the President, it will still be food, feed, and fuel. I am now ready for your questions,” the lawmaker added. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas, Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz, Butch Fernandez
