MANILA — Malacanang on Thursday reiterated the promise of President Rodrigo Duterte to sustain the country’s economic growth through the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this statement after ING, a global financial institution, attributed its positive forecast to the Philippines’ economy to the government’s public works construction activities.
“The Duterte administration continues to sustain the country’s growth through its Build, Build, Build program which will boost infrastructure investment and generate more jobs for all Filipinos,” Roque said during Palace media briefing.
Roque welcomed the ING’s forecast that the Philippines’ GDP is expected to grow at a rate of 6.7 percent in 2018.
“According to ING, this positive outlook can be attributed to household and government spending which is seen to sustain its growth for the year,” Roque said.
“ING particularly mentions the increase in public works construction activities as the government rolls out major infrastructure project,” he added.
Meanwhile, Roque announced that the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) had increased by 20.1 percent, topping the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)’s target in 2017.
He said BSP recorded an amount of USD8.7 billion in net inflows of FDI in the period of January to November 2017, which is 20.1 percent higher compared to the same period of last year.
On the other hand, Roque said the country’s export of agri-based products have also increased from USD3.987 billion in 2016 to USD4.225 billion in 2017.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, coconut products had the largest contribution with coconut oil recording 35.59 percent of the total receipt from ago-based shipments in 2017.
The PSA said revenues from coconut oil exports reached USD1.504 billion in 2017 compared to 2016’s USD1.51 billion. (PNA)
