President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (File photo)
MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has guaranteed his administration’s readiness to address "external shocks" that may affect the country's economic growth.
Marcos said the government has various policy interventions to sustain the Philippine economy’s growth momentum.
"What we have to deal with again (are) the shocks that are coming from abroad," Marcos, who is currently in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for the four-day Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit and Related Summits, said in a taped video sent to Palace reporters by the Office of the Press Secretary on Friday.
"But within the Philippines, within our economy, I think we have made the right policy decisions, we have started to make the right initiatives and in certain cases, we have had to intervene but we have a mix of interventions and non-intervention actions to alleviate the problems that we feel in the economy," he added.
Marcos' statement came after the Philippine economy grew by 7.6 percent in the third quarter of 2021, which was faster than expected.
The latest growth rate gave Marcos and his economic team high hopes that his administration would be able to achieve its growth target of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent for 2022.
Marcos reiterated that his administration is making its way toward the "right direction," given the economic figures.
He also assured that the government is ready to address certain challenges, including higher global inflation.
"Once again, we are always very conscious of the inflation rate because this reflects the cost of living of ordinary people. So, that is still of great concern to us. But we have created the jobs, we have started the growth and that will pull us out of the debt situation that we are in," Marcos said.
Speaking before the Cambodian business community in Phnom Penh on Thursday, Marcos said the Philippines is on the right track to sustaining its strong economic recovery.
Marcos also enticed foreign business leaders to invest in the country, telling them that many investment opportunities await them.
Also on Thursday, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the Philippines' economic expansion in the third quarter of 2022 is a testament that the country is "far from recession."
She attributed the economic growth to the hard work of Marcos and his Cabinet.
Meanwhile, Senator Raffy Tulfo said Marcos’ move to address the energy crisis shows how serious he is in uplifting the country’s economic situation.
The President presided over a meeting with Department of Energy (DOE) officials at Malacañan Palace in Manila on Wednesday morning, before he left for Cambodia, to discuss "immediate and medium-term" plans to improve the energy sector.
“Maraming bansa ang kasalukuyan nang kinakaharap ito. Mabuti at maaga pa ay naghahanda na tayo (Several countries are facing the same problems. It’s good that we are preparing for this early on),” Tulfo said in a news release.
As for the long-term solutions, Tulfo said he would closely coordinate with the DOE to study the necessary laws needed to implement the off-shore wind farms proposed by the President.
Tulfo earlier filed Proposed Senate Resolution 107, seeking to find an immediate solution to an impending energy crisis and adopt necessary legislative measures that would provide long-term energy security, sufficiency, and stability. (With a report from Leonel Abasola/PNA)
