The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on Friday said it is optimistic that the economy would hit the government’s target growth for the entire year. The NEDA said one of the reasons is a stronger-than-expected third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
“We are strongly confident that we will really be attaining this target,” NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon, quoted by a GMA News report, said.
The Marcos administration has set a target growth band of 6.5% to 7.5% GDP for 2022.
As of the third quarter of 2022, the country’s GDP —the total value of goods and services produced in a specific period— grew by 7.6%, faster than the upwardly adjusted 7.5% GDP growth seen in the second quarter of the year, the GMA News report said.
Edillon echoed Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan’s remark that the economy only needs to grow by 3.3% in the fourth quarter to meet the lower end of the target band.
To hit the upper end of the goal, the economy needs to grow by 6.9% in the October to December period.
Edillon said the government is aware of the headwinds that need to be addressed to achieve the growth target such as the high inflation environment.
“Going forward, that is what we need to address. We need to bring down inflation, especially the prices of prime commodities, particularly food,” he said.
Reports earlier said inflation has been trending above 6% in the past quarter — 6.4% in July, 6.3% in August, and 6.9% in September — driven by rising food, utilities, and transport costs amid local and external pressures on commodity prices.
In October, inflation, or the rate of increase in the prices of consumer goods and services, accelerated to a 14-year high of 7.7% from 6.9% in September as food prices remain elevated due to supply challenges brought by external pressures such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the onslaught of Typhoon Karding.
The NEDA official said the government is preparing medium-term solutions to inflation, which includes cash transfers, fuel discounts, and other forms of targeted assistance.