MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine economy remains sound despite high inflation, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said on Tuesday.
The country’s inflation rate eased to 8.6 percent in February from 8.7 percent in January this year, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported.
“Our economy is sound kahit medyo mataas ang (despite the quite high) inflation. It remains sound,” Diokno said in a press briefing.
“In fact, it grew by 7.6 [percent] last year, right? Meaning, consumption was not affected much. The high inflation is relative to what we had for the last 10 years, but the economy is fine,” he added.
The inflation rate is projected to go down to 4 percent by October and in 2024, it is expected to average at 3.1 percent, according to Diokno.
Despite the elevated inflation, the government is not expecting the economy to slow down, said Diokno.
“It (economic growth) will hover between 6 percent and 7 percent, that’s our forecast this year, but it will recover to a range of 6.5 percent to 8 percent in the following years,” he said.