Ramped up spending to lift PH ’19 GDP to within target level

FILE: @DOF_PH Secretary @SecSonnySays held a press conference in Nonthaburi, Thailand to answer media queries on the results of the meetings attended during the 35th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (@ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits. (Photo: pcooglobalmedia/Twitter)

NONTHABURI, Thailand — Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III is optimistic that growth of the Philippine economy in the third quarter of 2019 will be better than the 5.5 percent average in first half as government expenditures have recovered.

In a briefing at the sidelines of the 35th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit and Related Summits here, Dominguez said expansion of the domestic economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), “most likely” exceeded the 5.

6 percent and 5.5 percent in the first and second quarters of the year, respectively.

He said better outcome is expected for the second half of the year “because our spending did ramp up in the third quarter.”

“We haven’t quite caught up yet and we’re still 5 percent short but we’re getting there,” he said.

The Finance chief believes that full-year growth will be at the lower end of the government’s 6-7 percent target band for this year.

GDP growth in the first quarter this year slipped from the 6.3 percent in the last quarter of 2018.

Authorities traced the growth slowdown to the impact of the delayed approval of this year’s national budget, which was only signed into law last April 15.

Economic managers, however, believe that that catch-up infrastructure spending tasked to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) would be able to lift government spending and domestic growth in the remaining months of the year.

Bureau of the Treasury data show that as of last September, government expenditures rose by 5.5 percent year-on-year to PHP2.

626 trillion against the PHP2.489 trillion during the same period last year.

Last September alone, government spending jumped by 39.01 percent, faster than the 8.78 percent year-on-year increase last August.

Programmed spending in the first nine months this year amounted to PHP2.684 trillion, making the actual expenditures 2.

14 percent short.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Statistics Authority is scheduled to report the third-quarter GDP figures on November 7.