SPEAKER Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez on Thursday said the nation could still attain its minimum economic growth target this year of six percent with the collaboration of the Marcos administration and the private sector.

He made the statement in reaction to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report that the economy grew by 5.9 percent in the third quarter of this year.

Speaker Romualdez said two factors would result in faster economic expansion in the last quarter – increased consumer spending during the Christmas season and yearend disbursements and project completion by government agencies.

“The government is the principal driver of growth. We expect state offices to ramp up project and program implementation and activities. Funds released to them are meant to be spent, not saved, though expenditures should comply with relevant accounting, auditing, transparency, and accountability regulations,” Speaker Romualdez, head of the 300-plus strong House of Representatives, said.

He said the House of Representatives would not hesitate to exercise its oversight power to check on the spending of agencies.

According to National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, the country’s 5.9-percent growth was the fastest among major emerging economies in Asia.

It was better than Vietnam’s 5.3 percent, China’s and Indonesia’s 4.9 percent, and Malaysia’s 3.3 percent.

Balisacan said growth in the first three quarters averaged 5.5 percent.

He said the country should expand by 7.2 percent in the fourth quarter for it to attain its minimum expansion goal of 6 percent for whole of 2023

“It’s a difficult challenge, but let’s do the most we can to hit the target. Let us not be distracted by political noise. Let’s continue supporting President BBM in achieving economic prosperity for our people,” Speaker Romualdez said.

He reminded everyone that the economy grew by 7.4 in the first six months of the Marcos administration – 7.6 percent and 7.2 percent in the third and fourth quarters of 2022.

“So 7.2 percent is a fairly achievable goal. It’s not an impossible dream,” he said.

Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda said President Marcos has the space and the opportunity to work on policies and priorities that are forward-looking with inflation back under control and growth back on track.

Salceda added “PBBM is back in a position of strength — and that is leverage for more long-term reforms.”

He said the key driver of growth recovery in the 3rd Quarter is government spending, which lodged a positive 6.7 percent growth year-on-year, versus negative 7.1 percent last quarter.

That resulted in high construction sector growth, at 12.4 percent on the expenditure side, and 14.0 percent on the industry side, according to Salceda.

“We have to sustain the government’s spending catchup plan, especially at the local government unit level. Budgeted programs and plans there were put on hold because of the Barangay and SK Election spending ban should be pursued vigorously to completion this year,” Salceda said.

“Mining is also back in the green at 4.5 percent growth, its best performance since Q3 of 2022, PBBM’s first quarter in office.

We need to keep working on agricultural growth, however. For the sector to maintain its peso-level contribution to GDP per capita, it should grow by at least 2 percent every year. Average growth so far this year has been 1.1 percent. The appointment of a DA Secretary who comes from the leading investment drivers of the agriculture sector should bolster the effort to meet this target,” Salceda said.

“There are signs of weak global trade, as shown in a much larger negative growth for imports of goods, from -5.0 percent during the previous quarter to -8.1 percent. Exports of goods have also decelerated in growth from -0.9 percent to -2.6 percent, signs of continued lackluster global demand due to high Fed rates. In the absence of a strong global trade environment, we must strengthen our fundamental domestic industries, especially agriculture and domestic manufacturing,” Salceda said.

“Moving forward, Filipinos can expect that while global conditions will remain volatile and uncertain, the President has more tools to work with, thanks to good growth numbers for the past quarter,” Salceda added.