MANILA, Philippines—World oil prices are declining. Overseas workers’ remittances remain high. Exports did well during the first half of the year. Inflation is going down.
These are the “bright spots” that could spur the economy to grow in the second half of the year despite the global financial turmoil, said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto on Saturday.
“We expect better growth in the second half,” Recto said in a phone interview.
After oil prices dipped below $70 a barrel on Thursday, Recto said he expected oil companies to further slash the pump prices of diesel, gas and kerosene in the coming weeks.
“Significantly, they’ll go down,” he said.
Local oil companies rolled back prices from P1 to as high as P3 a liter on Thursday and Friday following the decline in world oil prices. Dubai crude fell to $78 a barrel as of Tuesday.
On the other indicators, Recto cited encouraging statistics before the global financial crisis hit: Exports climbed 6.5 percent to $4.388 billion in August; remittances from overseas workers rose by 10 percent to $1.3 billion also in August, and the inflation rate eased to 11.9 percent in September from a high of 12.5 percent the previous month.
He also noted that banks in August increased their lending by 24.1 percent to P2.04 trillion.
The economy posted better than expected 7.2-percent growth last year, but economic managers have scaled down the growth target this year to 4.4 to 4.9 percent in view of the global crisis.
“There’s no need to change the growth projections,” said Recto. “If it grows faster, that’s icing on the cake.”
Recto also allayed fears over Labor Secretary Marianito Roque’s directive to regional officers to craft measures to help some 50,000 overseas Filipinos who may be adversely affected if the United States slides into recession.
“This is all part of the contingency plan. It doesn’t mean that what we’re preparing for is going to happen,” Recto said. “There’s no need to panic. The DOLE is not panicking. They’re doing the right thing.”
TJ Burgonio
