Economic agenda to help PH weather external risks

The Duterte administration’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda, ultimately aimed at reducing poverty incidence, will sustain strong economic growth in the medium term despite external risks, a ranking Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas official said.

“On closer scrutiny, we see the thrust of the new administration to hold steady on the factors that led growth in the Philippines: Maintaining an orderly fiscal house, investing in human resources and capital development, and keeping the track of progressive structural reforms in the areas of tax collection, ease of doing business, rural and value chain development, security of land tenure, improved social protection programs, and responsible parenthood,” BSP Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said last week.

As such, monetary authorities “expect the new administration to steer a stronger economy,” Guinigundo said.

Last week, the government reported that the economy grew 6.8 percent last year, the fastest in three years and one of the highest rates in Asia.

According to Guinigundo, the BSP supports the 10-point socioeconomic agenda, which serves as the cornerstone of the Duterte administration’s economic policies in the next six years.

The 10-point agenda was aimed at slashing the poverty incidence to 14 percent by 2022 from 21.6 percent last year.

For Guinigundo, the Philippines has “plentiful opportunities, and we are now in a position to have a better quality of economic growth.”

“But to ensure that this can continue for the longer run, we need to translate our gains and make them more inclusive,” Guinigundo said.

“In the area of financial inclusion, the BSP has been proactive in the development of microfinance by creating an enabling policy and regulatory environment for institutions to extend financial services to the poor and unbanked,” he said.