File photo
MANILA – A cut in the government’s gross domestic product (GDP) target of between 6.5-7.5 percent this year is possible because of the impact of the two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in NCR Plus.
In an interview during the Laging Handa public briefing aired over PTV 4 Monday, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) may revise the growth target for this year following the ECQ implementation in the National Capital Region (NCR) and four nearby provinces namely Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, and Laguna from March 29 until April 11.
“So siguro base dun sa magiging resulta nun sa aking tantya ay baka ibaba ng konti ang ating target for this year to around 6-7 percent (Based on the would-be result (of the revision), I think the target for this year might be lowered to around 6-7 percent),” he said.
Amidst the latest developments, Diokno reiterated that the economy was strong pre-pandemic thus, authorities expect the domestic economy to recover.
“Siguro sometime in 2022 makakabalik tayo dun sa where we were before in 2019. At yun naman ay nakabase rin yun kung gaano kabilis natin madi-deploy yung vaccination. (We might return to where we were in 2019 sometime in 2022. This will also depend on how fast the vaccination would be deployed),” he said referring to the government’s coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccination program.
Diokno said the economy will recover “not necessarily this quarter but the second quarter.”
“And patuloy po itong pag-unlad ng ating ekonomiya (And the growth of our economy will continue),” he added.
Diokno said the International Monetary Fund (IMF), based on the April 2021 World Economic Outlook (WEO) update, revised upwards its growth projection for the domestic economy for this year from 6.6 percent to 6.9 percent.
He said the latest IMF growth forecast for the country is in line with economic managers’ growth target for 2021, which was approved during their meeting in December 2020.
Diokno said the 2022 growth target approved during the meeting is even higher at between 8-10 percent.
The 2022 target approved last December, however, was revised to between 6.5-7.5 percent under the updated Philippine Development Plan (PDP) announced last February.
The revision in next year’s growth target was attributed to the impact of the pandemic. (PNA)
