A customer pays for an order of chicken at a market in Quezon City on March 20, 2023. Rolex Dela Pena, EPA-EFE
PH still 'on track' on GDP growth target
MANILA — The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on Thursday said inflation in the country is "on the downward trajectory already," citing their monitoring.
In a Palace briefing, NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan was confident inflation may decelerate to around 4 percent by the end of the year.
"We are seeing that (lowering of inflation)," said Balisacan.
"We are actively monitoring the situation and implementing the necessary measures so that by the end of the year, we should be in the target of roughly around 3.5 to 4 percent," he added.
Inflation eased to 7.6 percent in March after hitting a 14-year high of 8.7 percent in January.
High food, fuel and transport prices have been blamed for keeping inflation elevated in the past several months.
Meanwhile, Balisacan said the Philippines is still on track to hit its GDP growth target of 6 to 7 percent this year.
"I think we are not leaving that track," the NEDA chief told reporters in a chance interview.
He added that the World Economic Outlook recently upgraded its outlook for the Philippines to 6 percent from an earlier forecast of 5 percent.
"That's the only one of very few countries that have gotten that kind of upgrade. So we are quite still optimistic despite these headwinds," he said.
The Development Budget Coordination Committee earlier retained the 6 to 7 percent growth forecast for 2023 to 2025 “as the economy is expected to sustain its strong recovery in the medium term.”
For its part, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas expects inflation to average 6 percent in 2023 before easing within the 2 to 4 percent target range in 2024.
Video from PTV