Recto: Growth goals to be cut

GROWTH targets will be lowered to take into account current headwinds, a Cabinet official said ahead of an economic managers’ meeting.

“I think we should come out with something more realistic,” Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said on Thursday, reiterating a view raised last month shortly after he took office.

“Not only this year but for the medium term until 2028,” he added.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), of which Recto is a member, was to meet Friday evening to review targets that were approved last December.

Results of the meeting will be announced next week, officials have said.

In December, the gross domestic product (GDP) growth target for this year was narrowed to 6.5 to 7.5 percent, and the previous range of 6.5 to 8.0 percent was kept for 2025 to 2008.

“I think 6.0 percent is a good number,” Recto said on Thursday, adding that 6.5 percent would be “aspirational.”

“Realistic is 6.0 [percent] but we will endeavor to hit 6.5 [percent], that’s how I’m looking at it.”

Most analysts expect 2024 GDP growth to fall below target this year given continued inflation risks and geopolitical issues.

Last week, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan — also a member of the DBCC — said there was a “good case for revisiting the [government’s] assumptions.”

Recto said that setting growth targets too high would raise the budget deficit and also the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio, “so, I think we should be responsible with that.”

Economic managers are likely to raise revenue goals for “some efficiency gain,” he added, with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Customs (BoC) and the Bureau of the Treasury to be “pushed … to collect more.”

“That’s what we will do. We will adjust the GDP down, but we will ask the BIR and the BoC to do more.”

Both agencies posted year-onyear gains in January, resulting in the government notching an P88-billion surplus for the month.

Recto said that while the growth and other targets would be lowered, these were subject to regular review and could be raised down the road.

“[T]he President will be in office for two years already by June this year so probably all his hard work and that of the previous economic managers will probably bear fruit next year when we expect more foreign direct investments to come in,” he said.

“And probably we can adjust those figures again upwards,” Recto added.

“We still have hot wars ongoing, geopolitical tensions in this part of the world but then there’s so much opportunities and optimism in the Philippines.”

Also on Thursday, Recto said that inflation was likely to remain an issue, likely rising for a second straight month in March.

“It will be a bumpy road. We’re expecting that,” he told reporters as he echoed Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas(BSP) Governor Eli Remolona Jr.’s forecast of a rise to 3.9 percent from February’s 3.4 percent.

The BSP expects inflation to breach the 2.0- to 4.0-percent target in the second quarter, and

Recto said this could prompt monetary authorities to keep key interest rates at a near 17-year high.

An easing is still likely this year but only in the second half.

The BSP’s policymaking Monetary Board, originally scheduled to meet on April 4, will now meet on April 8 to gain the benefit of March inflation date set for release on April 5.