DTI: PH growth may hit high end of target range

The Department of Trade and Industry expects the Philippine economy to grow by close to 7 percent this year—much higher than the 6.3 percent growth forecast of the International Monetary Fund—on the back of brisk performance in exports, investments and infrastructure.

We’re coming from a higher base now, so this might be challenging. But I still think we’re on the high 6 percent or even 7 percent,” Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. said.

Driving this growth, according to Cristobal, would be the expected recovery in the total export revenues, the faster pace of implementation of infrastructure and other projects under the government’s public-private partnership (PPP) program, and the recovery efforts in areas devastated by natural calamities.

These initiatives, he said, are expected to generate more jobs and ensure inclusive growth even in the countryside.

Senen M. Perlada, director of the DTI’s Bureau of Export Trade Promotions, said the department expected the country’s total export revenues to grow between 7 and 8 percent this year from the estimated $76 billion worth of receipts recorded last year.

The growth, Perlada said, will be driven largely by automotive and consumer electronics, as well as fresh and processed foods.

Meanwhile, the country’s macroeconomic fundamentals are also seen to remain stable while the peso’s depreciation is expected to benefit local exporters, Cristobal said.

He also pointed out that foreign direct investments would increase this year, owing to the robust performance of the Philippine economy.

For this year, the DTI projects foreign direct investments to grow by as much as 20 percent to about $4.8 billion, on the back of foreign investors’ increased interest in the Philippines.

As of end-September 2013, FDIs stood at $3.1 billion, which was 10 percent higher than that of the previous year.

The Board of Investments also expects at least a 10-percent hike in the investment commitments it will approve this year to roughly P443 billion, as it projects more robust activities from both local and foreign firms this year.

Last year, the investment pledges approved by the BOI reached P403.17 billion due largely to the growing number of power generation projects in the pipeline.

A 10-percent rise “is reasonable growth for approved investments. What we aim for, however, is the impact of the growth in terms of stable and decent jobs—for a more inclusive growth,” Cristobal told the Inquirer in an earlier interview.