Lowered economic goals a ‘wake-up call,’ say Tsinoy firms

Scaled-down economic targets for the Philippines through 2028 are a “sobering” wake-up call for the Marcos administration, a business chamber said, urging the government to continue aiming for 8-percent growth despite the revisions.

Responding to recalibrated targets released earlier this month, the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) said the lower goals should not set the “limit of our national economic ambition.”

Economic growth of 8 percent, the chamber said, should remain the “minimum viable” goal.

“The goal of 8 percent remains the ideal benchmark of transformative progress, because a steadfast and collective drive toward 8 percent is the critical, immediate step that will change our momentum and define this decade,” said FFCCCII president Victor Lim.

Earlier this month, the interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) lowered its growth target for this year to 5 to 6 percent, coming from the previously set 6 to 7 percent.

Growth is projected at 5.5 to 6.5 percent in 2027 and 6 to 7 percent in 2028. These were both lower than the DBCC’s earlier projections of 6 to 8 percent for those two years.

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Lim said the revisions signaled the government’s acknowledgment of the headwinds facing the Philippine economy.

Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the softer targets were due to the prevailing “reality” at home and abroad.

These revisions follow a third-quarter slump in gross domestic product to a four-year low, weighed down by cuts in government infrastructure spending amid the widening corruption probe into flood control.