The interagency Development Budget Coordinating Committee will meet Wednesday to revisit its macroeconomic assumptions after the economy expanded 11.8 percent in the second quarter, the fastest in over three decades, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Tuesday.
The DBCC is composed of the heads of the Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management and the National Economic and Development Authority.
“We will have a DBCC meeting Aug. 18 to determine what the future seems to look like, given this lockdown episode we had,” Dominguez said in an online briefing.
Dominguez did not say whether he would recommend any adjustment on the gross domestic product growth target range of 6 percent to 7 percent this year, taking into account the second-quarter GDP expansion.
“DBCC is a collegial body,” he said, adding he could not predict what would happen in the succeeding weeks. Economists earlier said the two-week lockdown in Metro Manila from Aug. 6 to 20 might be extended over rising cases of new infections triggered by the more virulent Delta variant of COVID-19.
Economists said any extension in the quarantine restrictions might result in a minimal GDP growth in the third quarter that could impact the full-year target range.
National Statistician Dennis Mapa earlier said the economy should grow by 8.2 percent in the second half to achieve the low end of the target, which is 6 percent.
Dominguez said the government was “doing all it can” to counter the pandemic. He said the vaccination of 70 million of the country’s population would be vital to counter the pandemic.
“Our first defense is the vaccinations. And our vaccination program is proceeding as originally announced, we have received around 42.6 million doses of vaccines so far from March to Aug. 15 and we have already administered 27.8 million doses,” Dominguez said.
The government aims to complete the inoculation of 70 percent of the population by yearend.
The second-quarter GDP expansion of 11.8 percent ended five quarters of contraction and followed the the revised 3.9-percent decline in the first quarter. It was also better than the 17.0-percent contraction a year ago that officially brought the country into technical recession.
The main contributors to the growth, with their corresponding increase, were manufacturing, 22.3 percent; construction, 25.7 percent; and wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, 5.4 percent.
Among the major economic sectors, industry and services posted positive growths of 20.8 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively. Agriculture, forestry and fishing posted a contraction of -0.1 percent in the second quarter.
On the demand side, household final consumption expenditure improved by 7.2 percent, along with the following items: gross capital formation, up 75.5 percent; exports, 27.0 percent; and imports, 37.8 percent.