MEMBERS of the Duterte administration’s economic and “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) teams are set to update economists and members of the regional financial community this week on the Philippines’s economic performance, developments in the fiscal sector and the status of the government’s infrastructure program.
Led by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, the Philippine Economic Briefing (PEB) will be held on Tuesday (September 18, 2018) at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Complex in Pasay City.
The briefing will also include updates on the New Clark City, which is being developed by the government as the country’s next big metropolis and agro-industrial hub. The finance chief will deliver the keynote address at the PEB, which will be opened by BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia will provide an update on the Philippines’slatest economic performance and the Duterte administration’s socioeconomic priorities for 2018 and onward during the PEB.
Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno will then present the fiscal strategy and reforms in the budgeting system that the Executive branch wants implemented to ensure prudent spending and prompt disbursement of public funds.
Espenilla will discuss the BSP’s fiscal reforms and developments in the monetary and financial sector, while updates on the New Clark City project will be presented by Vivencio B. Dizon, the president and CEO of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority.
Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade and Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar will separately brief the PEB participants about the status of the BBB program.
Dominguez said earlier that, despite the Philippines’s restrained economic performance in the second quarter, the country continues to be among the best- performing economies in Asia on the strength of higher foreign direct investment inflows and rising capital formation.