Infra spending to sustain high growth
SINGAPORE — Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the Duterte administration expects to sustain the economy’s growth rate at seven percent over the medium term through an ambitious "Build, Build, Build" program that will generate “an impressive multiplier effect” in the form of more jobs and investments that will finally close the country’s infrastructure backlog.
According to Dominguez, a sizable portion of the Duterte administration’s unprecedented infra spending will go the country’s poorest provinces to open up investment opportunities and rev up the economies in these areas.
To enable the government to pursue this infra program dubbed as “Build, Build, Build” while maintaining fiscal discipline, he said the Duterte administration has endorsed the congressional approval of its Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) that aims to improve tax administration and at the same time guarantee a steady revenue flow to support its high--and inclusive--growth agenda, Dominguez said.
“We are building an economy that the next generation of Filipinos deserves. It is an economy that cares for the environment, an economy that will allow our people’s many talents to blossom. I invite you to be part of this great enterprise,” Dominguez said at the briefing on the Philippine economy organized by the Standard Chartered Bank at the Mandarin Oriental here.
Aside from Dominguez, Secretaries Ernesto Pernia of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) and Benjamin Diokno of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr., also presented at this brief-
ing the Philippine government’s medium-term economic strategy and programs on the Duterte watch.
“We are looking to sustain a growth rate in the vicinity of 7 percent well into the medium term. That effort will be driven in part by an ambitious infrastructure modernization program whichwe call ‘Build, Build, Build.’ This program will have an impressive multiplier effect on the domestic economy. It will create jobs, draw investments and improve efficiency throughoutthe archipelago,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez said the Philippines’ economic strategy takes advantage of the country’s benign debt conditions, low interest rates, investment-grade credit ratings, and improvements in the ease of doing business that the Duterte administration will continue to enhance by streamlining government operations and cutting red tape.
The finance chief said that over the remaining five and a half years of the Duterte administration, it has programmed over $170 billion in infrastructure spending, of which $23 billion will go to the infra program next year. DOF