Funding growth

Of his many personal traits, President Rody Duterte’s candor easily stands out. He admits to lack of knowledge of economics. “I don’t even understand those graphs,” he once told a gathering of fellow Bedans.

That said, he professes to rely heavily on the advice of his trusted economic advisers to help him move the country forward. Easily among his top four are Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Budget Secretary Ben Diokno, Economic Planning Secretary Ernie Pernia, and Transportation Secretary Art Tugade. Although legally independent of the Executive, the BSP Governor would be the fifth man in the team.

Finance Secretary Dominguez, Duterte’s economic captain ball, rightfully gives credit to the Arroyo and Aquino administrations for leaving behind a healthy economy. But more still needs to be done.

Dominguez explains that one of the strategic objectives of the Duterte administration is to reduce the nation’s poverty rate from the current 26 percent to just 17 percent or a reduction of the poor by 1.5 percent per year for the next six years. Difficult yes, but eminently achievable.

Echoing the “7x7 formula” of former Neda chief Romy Neri, Dominguez stated: “There is only one benchmark we need to consistently attain year after year: this is to keep growth at 7 percent for the next generation.”

But growth must be inclusive, Dominguez states, “with the goal of enhancing access to opportunity, reducing disparities among the regions and preparing the young for meaningful economic roles through superior but accessible educational systems.”

One of the linchpins of the growth strategy is massive infrastructure spending. The strategy was rolled out in detail during the recent Dutertenomics fora, which Dominguez himself helped organize.

Massive infra spending “should immensely improve the logistics backbone of our economy as well as create jobs in the area that are less progressive. Gains in the efficiency of moving people and goods through the archipelago will bring down costs for consumers and enhance the productivity of farmers, as well as manufacturing.”

And how does the Duterte government intend to fund all these projects?

1. By continuing to tap the private sector in big-ticket projects. The big guns, like Ayala and SMIC, immediately pledged to continue to do their share of the heavy lifting.

2. By borrowing locally. This could be sourced from massive OFW funds remitted annually.

3. By improving tax collection efficiency through the approval and implementation of the proposed tax reform package.

Of the last, Dominguez acknowledges that raising taxes is never popular. Thus, he proposes to ease the pain by seeking to lower personal and corporate income taxes. But each item that will result in revenue loss will have to be coupled with a proposal that will result in revenue gain. Here’s hoping that Congress expeditiously passes the proposed tax reform package.--