Diokno: Internal factors to fuel economic growth

MANILA--The expansion of the country’s economy will be fueled by internal factors and will be less dependent on external growth, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said on Tuesday.

At the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Makati Business Club in Makati City, Diokno told reporters that strong government spending and public infrastructure expenditures will support gross domestic product (GDP) growth next year.

“We’re less dependent on external growth at this time. Most of the growth next year will be internally generated, with very strong public infrastructure and spending of the government,” he said.

He noted that by the first quarter of 2017, all is ready for the government to implement major infrastructure projects in urban centers such as Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao 24 hours daily.

“We will make sure that there will be no idle projects in these areas,” the DBM chief said.

Diokno said the government intends to bid out public-private partnership (PPP) projects simultaaneously.

Currently, the government is preparing the documents of various projects up for bidding next year.

“Our problem now is where we get contractors for our projects,” he said.

Aside from government spending on infrastructure, the official mentioned that construction projects from the private sector will also fuel GDP growth in the coming years.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday raised its GDP growth forecast for the Philippines to 6.4 percent at end-2016 from its initial projection of 6.0 percent in March.

Growth projection for 2017 was also moved up to 6.2 percent from the initial estimate of 6.1 percent.

ADB said the country’s economic expansion will remain robust in the next two years backed by investments, private consumption, and government spending on infrastructure and human capital.

The government, on the other hand, is more optimistic on the economic performance for 2016 and 2017.

The new administration’s growth projection for this year is at six to seven percent and at at 6.5 to 7.5 percent next year.

“I think they (ADB) have to adjust their forecast. We are confident that we are doing more,” Diokno commented on the adjustments of GDP growth projection.