Government officials told Hong Kong and US investors the Philippine economy will continue to grow faster compared with its peers in the region.
A Philippine delegation led by National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo visited institutional investors in Hong Kong and the US cities of Los Angeles, Boston, New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia to showcase the Philippines’ robust growth outlook.
Guinigundo during a series of one-on-one investor meetings discussed economic updates and the country’s positive growth prospects supported by sound macroeconomic fundamentals and important policy reforms.
He said the Philippines was expected to continue to outperform most emerging markets in terms of economic growth and resilience to external shocks in the years ahead.
Guinigundo cited rising government and private-sector investments, as well as improving labor productivity as some growth drivers. He also stressed the country’s strong external payments position, supported by steady FX inflows and prudent external account management to maintain Philippine resilience to external shocks.
Guinigundo discussed the inflation outlook, which this year accelerated due to supply side factors and rising global oil prices, saying it was expected to return to within the target range of 2 percent to 4 percent starting in 2019.
The Bangko Sentral took a series of policy rate hikes totaling 150 basis points from May to September this year to help anchor inflation expectations and address second-round effects.
Meanwhile de Leon discussed the government’s fiscal program, under which tax reform generated additional revenues to fund vital and long over-due infrastructure projects launched under the government’s Build, Build, Build program. The infrastructure thrust is aimed at creating more jobs, improve connectivity, attract investments and increase the country’s productive capacity.
Under the Build, Build, Build initiative, big-ticket infrastructure projects are being rolled out acorss the country to squarely address the infrastructure gap. The National Treasurer said that the government was mindful of keeping the fiscal deficit within manageable levels—at 3.2 percent of GDP for 2019 and 3.0 percent of GDP for 2020 to 2022.
