Phl economic managers set consultative confab

The administration’s economic managers are meeting with the Cebu business community this week for an economic dialogue. Finance undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua said the consultative conference will take on a 21st century town hall format that will allow the business community to directly participate in shaping the policies meant to benefit them.

The economic briefing, dubbed as Sulong Pilipinas, is happening on Nov. 9 at City Sports Club.

Chua said this will give an opportunity for the economic managers to highlight the socio-economic accomplishments of the administration and the current monetary and external sector performance.

He said they also seek to have a dialogue with the business community on the second package of the government’s tax reform program, Ease of Doing Business Act and the implementation of major infrastructure projects.

In the second quarter of this year, the Philippine economy grew 6 percent, slower than expected.

In a recent report, London-based Capital Economics expects Philippine economic growth to have slowed down further to 5.8 percent in the third quarter as rising inflation likely eroded the spending power of consumers.

The economic research firm said the successive policy hikes implemented by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in response to rising inflation would continue to weigh on growth in the coming months.

“A key drag is likely to have been higher inflation, which will have weighed on consumer’s purchasing power,” said the report.

“Monetary policy is another factor that is likely to have weighed on demand. In response to rising inflation, the central bank (BSP) has raised rates by 150 basis points. With inflation likely to remain above the BSP’s target for some time yet, further rate hikes are likely,” it added.

Headline inflation accelerated to 6.7 percent in September from 6.4 percent the previous month mainly because of supply shocks amid strong domestic demand.