Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the government is fully prepared to address the risks and challenges that threaten sustained recovery from the global health crisis, such as the rising inflation rate.
“We have a comprehensive set of interventions to effectively balance the need to sustain growth momentum while containing inflationary pressures and their cascading effects on the economy,” Diokno said at the Global Economy session of the 3rd G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting.
The Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum that works to address global economic issues, including international financial stability, climate change mitigation and sustainable development. The Philippines is not part of the G20, but was invited to participate as a guest nation by the government of Indonesia, the current chair and president of the group.
G20 is composed of 19 countries plus the European Union, which together comprise the world’s largest economies and account for around 60 percent of the world’s population, 80 percent of global gross domestic product and 75 percent to 80 percent of international trade.
The Global Economy session was the first in a series of discussions covering various topics, including global health, international financial architecture, financial sector issues, sustainable finance, infrastructure and international taxation.
Diokno, responding to issues raised on risks to financial stability and rising inflationary pressures, cited the government’s effort to increase agricultural output and importation of certain commodities to stabilize supply and prices of food.
He said that targeted subsidies were allocated to cushion the impact of rising fuel prices on the public transport sector.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has been decisive in undertaking the necessary monetary policy actions to arrest the rise of inflation, he said.
“With these policy instruments and a medium-term fiscal framework in hand, we are confident that the pains brought by ongoing shocks will be short, and our recovery will remain robust,” he said.
The government’s medium-term fiscal framework is aimed at reducing the budget deficit, promoting fiscal sustainability and enabling robust economic growth. It contains near-term and medium-term strategic plans for socioeconomic development, which will be presented in detail to the public by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in his first State-of-the-Nation Address.
Diokno said during the meeting that the Philippines is expected to post the highest growth rate in the ASEAN+3 region this year and in 2023.
The ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office recently revised upwards its 2022 economic growth projection for the Philippines from 6.5 percent to 6.9 percent.
“Rest assured, the Philippines will contribute all it can to support the ongoing efforts of the G20 countries in implementing exit strategies and appropriate fiscal and monetary tools to secure a sustainable global economic recovery,” Diokno said.