CLARK FREEPORT ZONE, Pampanga — Department of Finance assured the Philippines remains one of the fastest growing economies in the world’s fastest-growing region.
Speaking before Central Luzon stakeholders during the Sulong Pilipinas 2018 Philippine Development Forum in Clark, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the government has responded decisively to the challenge posed by the elevated inflation rates experienced in the first three quarters of 2018.
“We expect inflation to taper off in the closing months of this year. In fact, we intend to sustain this growth momentum,” Dominguez added.
He also clarified that while places like the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) are complaining that their investment commitments are down, investments are actually up with a 31 percent rise in foreign direct investments in the first eight months of the year.
“The ones in PEZA are down because those are the investments that ask for subsidies. Investments from foreign companies that do not ask for subsidies are actually up by 31%. Improved international investor confidence in our economic outlook is indicated by the tighter spreads on the bonds we have floated in the global market,” Dominguez said.
In closing, he attributed this rise in investments to the government’s strong fundamentals.
“The present administration has added to those fundamentals the element of decisiveness. We intend to move quickly but surely in pushing forward with the economic programs we committed to complete by the end of this administration,” he said.