PH ‘quite insulated’ from trade war fallout
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2019 16:21:20 +0000
Economic managers reiterated on Wednesday that the Philippines would remain insulated against rising trade tensions between advanced economies.
“Are we worried about the trade war between China and the US? Not really because as you know, the net exports sector of the economy is not that big for us. We are not an exports-oriented economy,” Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said in an interview.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd, meanwhile, remarked: “First of all, we’re not really a big international trader. Of course we are affected by the headwinds but because we have this ‘Build Build Build’ program, we are sort of … quite insulated.”
The statements were made following reports — denied by the White House — that US-China trade talks had faltered.
“We are optimistic this year. Big projects will take off this year and also we have an election year. Usually, during elections we have at least 0.5-1.0-percent increase in GDP (gross domestic product),” Diokno said.
Dominguez added: “We are building on our own momentum and on the massive economic investments we have programmed for this year. We fully expect to be a growth leader in this dynamic region.”
The government is banking on a massive infrastructure push to propel economic growth to 7.0-8.0 percent this year.
Growth is currently running below the 6.5-6.9 goal for 2018 based on latest data, averaging 6.3 percent as of end-September following first to third quarter outturns of 6.6 percent, 6.2 percent and 6.0 percent, respectively.
Fourth quarter and full-year 2018 GDP figures are set to be released today (Thursday).
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