Balisacan: Domestic economy 'comfortable' at new target

Economy, Planning, and Development Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan has expressed confidence that the Philippine economy can accelerate to a growth rate of 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent after downscaling from the more ambitious growth target previously.

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Despite concerns of slower household consumption, Balisacan said expanding anywhere within the fresh, lower target is comfortable. According to Balisacan, growing within targets should be attainable now as key borrowing costs have been reduced several times, and inflation has been hitting its lows.

"So the time lag usually is anywhere from a quarter to three quarters. So we should be already getting some of the dividends from past policy rate reduction, and the inflation is coming down from a high of eight percent in early last year to just 1.9 percent now," the Balisacan told reporters during the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) press briefing.