PH not going into recession, says Finance secretary

MANILA, Philippines —Despite projections of a global recession, the Philippines is not going into one,  Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said on Wednesday.

During the deliberations of a Commission on Appointments committee, Camarines Sur 2nd District Representative Luis Raymund Villafuerte asked Diokno about the government’s plan to mitigate the impact of a looming global recession.

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“I can assure you that, given the data that we have under very extreme conditions, we will not have a recession because we have a very young population,” Diokno told lawmakers.

The global economic decline, the chief said, will not affect the country because of improvements in the local economy.

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“For example, our unemployment rate is now down to 5 percent, which is the lowest since before the pandemic. I can assure you, given our focus on agriculture, we restored mining, our industry and manufacturing are working well, we have opened up the overseas workers, and we have increased the quality of our overseas workers,  I don’t think we’ll have a recession,” he explained.

While Villafuerte said he believed in the leadership of Diokno, he said the Philippine government should prepare for the impending global recession.

“We also have to consider the global economy vis-a-vis our country,” the congressman said.

Diokno then pointed out that the country’s economy is “domestic-driven.”

Further, Villafuerte said the national budget of P5.268 trillion for next year would help mitigate the impact on the local economy of  a global economic downturn.