High end of growth target possible – NEDA

MANILA, Philippines – The economy may still hit the high end of the government’s 0.8 to 1.8 percent growth target this year despite the damage caused by the two typhoons that recently ravaged the country and the lingering impact of the global financial crisis, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos said during the government’s midyear economic briefing yesterday.

“We expect the Philippines to attain the high end of the growth projection,” said Santos, acting director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

He said that while the government continues to count the damage of the typhoon on the agricultural sector and infrastructure, inflows of foreign aid and dollar remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) may help offset the costs.

Remittances, Santos said, “continue to defy gravity.”

Remittances from overseas Filipinos rose to $1.5 billion in July from $1.4 billion in the same month last year, posting the highest year-on-year growth for 2009 at 9.3 percent, latest data from the central bank showed.

Because of the continued inflow, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said during the same briefing that remittances may grow by more than three percent this year.

The latest estimate is higher than the two to three percent projected growth for 2009 and the original zero growth projection. In 2008, remittances hit $16.4 billion.

Santos said Filipinos abroad “are well scattered and not dependent on a few nations.”

The acting NEDA chief also attributed the resilience of the economy to the low inflation environment in the country. Inflation stood at a low of 0.7 percent in September albeit higher than the 0.1 percent recorded in August.

The economy grew by a revised 0.6 percent in the first quarter of the year and 1.5 percent in the second quarter, bringing first semester gross domestic product (GDP) growth to one percent.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves however, said earlier that the impact of the typhoons may slow economic growth to 0.6 percent to 1.6 percent this year.

Teves said the damage caused by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng is estimated at P12 to P14 billion. He said that a damage of P7 billion is enough to bring about a 0.1 percent change in GDP. –Iris C. Gonzales (The Philippine Star)