REPRESENTATIVES from government agencies (from left) moderator Margaux Marie Salcedo, Communications Undersecretary at the Department of Budget and Management; Budget Undersecretary Joselito Basilio; Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan; Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno; BSP Deputy Governor Francisco Dakila Jr. and Antonio Lambino, BSP managing director for strategic communication, engage in post-SONA discussions at the Philippine Economic Briefing held on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, at the PICC in Pasay City. It came a day after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in his State of the Nation Address, outlined reforms of his administration to boost the economy following the pandemic. He cited last year’s 7.6-percent economic growth rate, which he said was the country’s highest in 46 years despite weak prospects worldwide. Stories from the post-Sona briefing below. NONIE REYES
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Wednesday, July 26, 2023 Vol. 18 No. 282
DIGITALIZATION CITED IN H1 P1.9-T REVENUE TAKE T n
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 26 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas
HE state raked in almost P2 trillion in revenues in the first half, growing by 7.7 percent on an annualized rate on the back of improving economic conditions and more efficient collections by government agencies. Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said the national government’s revenues from January to June reached P1.9 trillion, 7.7 percent or about P133 billion higher than the P1.767 trillion recorded amount in the same period of last year. Diokno reported that the national government’s tax collections grew by 7.5 percent year-onyear while non-tax collections rose by 9.1 percent. “Our stellar performance was the result of higher economic activity and efficiency gains from the digital transformation of our revenue agencies,” he said at the Post-State of the Nation Address (SONA) Philippine Economic Briefing on Tuesday.
Diokno explained that the digitalization efforts of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs (BOC) allowed the bureaus to “maximize” the national government’s revenue potential, simplify taxpayer compliance and improve ease of doing business. “Now, sustaining revenue collection requires a simpler, fairer and more efficient tax system reinforced by a combination of tax policy and tax administration measures,” he said. The state’s five-month revenue collection is now 50.95 percent of its target earnings of P3.729 trillion this year. See “Digitalization,” A2
BSP tracks Fed’s next move, but inflation data watched By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario
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HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects the United States Federal Reserve to do two more increases in interest rates before pausing, which will be considered in its next policy rate meeting. However, BSP Deputy Governor Francisco Dakila Jr. stressed that other data will be considered such as the rate of inflation and the growth of the Philippine economy. Nonetheless, Dakila said, the BSP still believes inflation would continue to slow to 2.9 percent
next year, which is within the target range of 2 percent to 4 percent. “The environment today is very different from what we saw in the third quarter of last year when the Fed was just beginning to undertake a series of very aggressive policy actions. And right now, the market is seeing that perhaps, the Fed will do two more before pausing,” Dakila said. “It’s a different situation with respect to the Fed, and very importantly, it’s a different situation with respect to the outlook on inflation for us, for the Philippines,” he added.
SARINA BOLDEN scores the underdog Philippines’s historic match-winner at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, 1-0, over New Zealand on Tuesday—a first shot on goal in the 24th minute, flipping the script and silencing a packed Sky Stadium in Wellington of 33,000 mostly newly minted Kiwi soccer fans. Story on Sports B8. AP
DOF OPEN TO RAISING BUDGET GAP CAP TO HELP INFRA DEVT
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INANCE Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno on Tuesday said he is amenable to hiking the government’s budget deficit ceiling if it is “necessary” to sustain the government’s infrastructure programs and projects. This, as he disclosed that the national government must continue to build infrastructure for the next 20 years. Diokno expressed openness to increase the budget deficit ceiling of the national government if it is in line with the goal of sustaining the country’s infrastructure projects.
“I think once you start a project, you’ve got to make sure that you finish that project, okay. And therefore, when you make a plan, it’s not going to be a straight line because there will be some adjustments along the way, and so I’m willing to maybe increase the deficit, if necessary, as long as we can continue our infrastructure projects,” he said during the Post-State of the Nation Address Philippine Economic Briefing on Tuesday. Diokno was asked on how See “DOF,” A2
See “BSP,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 54.6690 n JAPAN 0.3865 n UK 70.1185 n HK 6.9972 n CHINA 7.6077 n SINGAPORE 41.0643 n AUSTRALIA 36.8305 n EU 60.4967 n KOREA 0.0428 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.5765 Source:
BSP (25 July 2023)