A vendor sells onions as well as other vegetables in smaller portion at a stall in Blumentritt Market in Manila on January 23, 2023. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News
MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has admitted that inflation remains a problem for the country even as the country's economic growth reached 7.6 percent in 2022, beating its target.
Marcos said while they are happy about this, there are "certain sectors of society and of the economy, [who] have yet to enjoy the benefits of that growth."
"And that’s why inflation is something that we are attending to," he said in a video posted by the Presidential Communications Office on Friday.
"I think that we are headed in the right direction. We still have some interventions that we will have to apply," he added.
"Nonetheless, we are weathering the shocks on the international economic situation and we are starting to see that the economy is moving in the correct direction."
The Chief Executive, who had said he has been "losing sleep" over the problem of inflation, said government expects for inflation to slow down by the end of the second quarter this year.
This may further slow to 4 percent "by the 3rd or 4th quarter of this year," citing information from the Central Bank. Inflation hit a record-8.1 percent in December.
Countering inflation and maintaining the country's growth rate involves more investments, Marcos said, justifying the need for his overseas trips to attract investors.
"We must maintain... that growth rate and that is why it has become so important for us to go out and to attract investment into the Philippines because that is the only way for economic activity to increase and therefore to grow the economy,” he said.
The current administration is seeking to create “green jobs” as well as upskill or reskill the workforce as “there is no silver bullet” to solving the country’s economic woes, Marcos earlier said.
The Philippine economy is seen to grow "around 7 percent" this year, he said during his participation at the World Economic Forum.