The Department of Finance is optimistic of sustaining the country’s high economic growth trajectory this year given the swift approval of the 2020 General Appropriations Act and the extended validity of certain portions of last year’s budget.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the timely enactment of the 2020 national budget and the Congress’ approval of the validity of certain aspects of the 2019 budget until Dec. 31, 2020 provided “a double-barreled boost—enough to sustain our high growth trajectory.”
“Surely, the public spending side of the growth equation will spur economic activity over the next few months. We see the economy firing on all cylinders this year with substantially higher government spending on infrastructure and social services, stronger domestic consumption responding to benign inflation, and a revitalized agricultural sector,” he said before members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines Tuesday.
Dominguez also said public optimism was high on the Philippines’ growth prospects at the start of the year, despite the fresh challenges brought about by the eruption of Taal Volcano and the global spread of the novel coronavirus (nCoV).
The government’s bold catch-up spending plan in the second half of 2019, which was designed to deliver more infrastructure projects and social services and at a faster pace, helped the economy recover from its weak performance in the first semester, Dominguez said.
The delay in the congressional approval of the 2019 national budget and the ban on new infrastructure during the election period that year resulted in the economy’s anemic growth in the first half of 2019.
“Clearly, a budget delayed is development delayed. The challenge at hand is to maintain the momentum of rapid growth that we were able to recover,” said Dominguez.
