Dominguez: Past admins laid groundwork for ‘golden age’ of Philippine economy

MANILA, Philippines — The previous administrations had "set the groundwork" for the Philippine economy to experience a “golden age,” a member of President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic team said on Friday.

An official from the Asian Development Bank earlier said the Philippine economy is going through a “golden age,” with the country’s growth seen outpacing its peers in the region in the next years on the back of strong investment and domestic consumption.

“If we are experiencing a golden age of economic growth, this did not happen overnight. First of all, it took a lot of work,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said at the regional press launch of the Philippines’ hosting of this year’s 51st ADB Annual Meeting.

Dominguez then gave credit to the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for surviving the 2008 global financial crisis, the deepest world recession for a generation.

The finance chief also lauded Arroyo’s successor, Benigno Aquino III, for providing the country with “a lot of cash savings” that helped the current government.

But “more importantly, the Filipinos elected a very dynamic leader in President Duterte, who has a vision for his country,” Dominguez said.

In its Asian Development Outlook report, the ADB kept its 2018 growth forecast for the Philippines at 6.8 percent, faster than the 6.7 percent clip in 2017.

For 2019, the Manila-based multilateral lender said the Philippine economy will likely accelerate to 6.9 percent.

The ADB’s projections were below the government’s 7-8 percent target set for this year until the end of Duterte's term. 

The current government plans to spend more than P8 trillion on infrastructure to spur gross domestic product growth until 2022.

 “We have a very young and talented workforce. Our average age is 23, and these are people who have very good basic education, willing to work, and have the interest to be trained,” Dominguez said.

“We also have very mild inflation worldwide for the last seven or eight years. So all of these factors came together,” he added.