DBCC to review economic targets

MANILA, Philippines - Amid global financial volatility, economic managers will review today macroeconomic assumptions for this year until 2019 as they start to lay out the foundation for the Aquino administration’s successor in June.

The Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC), the inter-agency body setting the government’s economic program, will meet today for the first time in eight months.

The meeting will tackle this year’s economic targets and fiscal program plus a medium-term blueprint until 2019. Contents of the annual socio-economic report will also be reviewed.

In a text message, Budget Undersecretary Laura Pascua said targets to be threshed out would also serve as “context of the 2017 budget” proposal.

DBCC will meet at a time when emerging markets, led by China, are slowing down, causing a slump in commodity prices and for the global equity market to enter the bear market.

The economy expanded 5.8 percent last year or below the revised six to seven-percent target.

Emilio Neri Jr., lead economist at Bank of the Philippine Islands, said the current volatile environment should not stop the government on charting its economic policy.

“It is not a healthy exercise to delay setting targets just to wait for the global environment to settle down,” Neri said.

Pascua, who leads the Executive Technical Board recommending to the DBCC, however said the “timing is still okay” as far as drafting assumptions are concerned.

According to the 2017 budget calendar, issuance of agency budget ceilings and economic assumptions should be done by March 21. Pascua has said this would done through a Department of Budget and Management (DBM) circular.

Ceilings and targets are part of the Tier 2 of budget preparation. Tier 1 kicked off last month, which included agencies being directed to craft priority programs for the outlay.

For this year, the medium-term program has targeted economic growth between seven- and eight-percent, although Cabinet officials had admitted six- to seven-percent would be more realistic.

The DBCC last met in July last year.