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DOMESTIC
expansion even at the reduced anticipated rate of 4.7
percent in terms of the gross domestic product, or GDP,
should still be respectable for an economy the size of
the Philippines, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)
said on Friday.
In a
briefing, BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said even
though local output last year grew at the now heady pace
of 7.2 percent, a growth rate equal to 4.7 percent this
year should not be bad.
“A
growth rate like 4.7 percent in GDP terms should still
be respectable given the many challenges facing us,” he
said.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and National Economic
and Development Authority Director General Ralph Recto
had earlier bared the likelihood that Manila would
expand this year at a much reduced rate ranging from 4.5
percent up to only 4.7 percent.
The
anticipated growth took into account the all-but-certain
recession now gripping the United States, the country’s
main trading partner.
Tetangco
pointed out a growth rate like that was nothing to
sneeze at.
“Of
course, we would like to see a much higher growth rate,
but because of what is happening, almost everybody is
being affected and it is not only us but also the other
countries,” he stressed.
“It
should be respectable given that the long-term growth
projection was seen much earlier to range from 4 percent
up to 5 percent,” he quickly added.
Tetangco
also said the BSP sold some of its dollar holdings to
address a “tightness” in dollar liquidity that has
stretched even further the already-stressed capacity of
the peso to hold its own against the world’s most
heavily traded currency.
“That
dollar tightness has already eased, especially today
[Friday] where we saw [inward] remittances. We also
provided some of the requirement consistent with our
commitment to provide for dollar liquidity when needed,”
he said.
The
local unit lost an average of 14.8 centavos against the
US dollar on Friday to P47.128 per dollar versus only
P46.980 per dollar the previous Thursday at the
Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp.
Tetangco’s admission that the BSP provided some of the
demand soothed frayed investor concerns as the volume of
trade fell to only $742.7 million from Thursday’s $808
million.
“There
is now [new] dollar supply,” he said.
He told
reporters they continue to project the country’s balance
of payments to end as a surplus totaling at least $2
billion this year, indicative of an economy that
continues to generate far more foreign-exchange earnings
than it was spending.
“That
dollar tightness has eased, also because remittances
from overseas Filipinos have started to climb ahead of
the annual Christmas spending [sprees],” Tetangco said.
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