MANILA - Higher disposable incomes for salaried workers due to tax reform will lift household consumption in the first quarter, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said Tuesday.

Households are expected to spend more even as lower personal income tax rates come with higher duties on fuel and sugar-sweetened drinks, Pernia told reporters.

"Disposable incomes will be higher. That's going to be a substantial boost," Pernia said, as he announced gross domestic product growth of 6.6 percent in the last 3 months of 2017.

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Pernia said the effect of higher taxes on fuel prices would be "transitory," adding pump costs would be affected more by geopolitical events.

"It's still going to be a net positive for those that are going to benefit from higher disposable incomes," he said.

The first package of tax reforms took effect last Jan. 1 as President Rodrigo Duterte sought to fulfill twin campaign promises to reduce the tax burden on the middle class and build P8 trillion in new infrastructure.

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