The Cabinet, at a special meeting on Monday, approved the pro-posed P3.005-trillion budget for 2016, a figure that is estimated to be P402 billion higher than the 2015 outlay of P2.603 trillion.
President Aquino presided at the presentation of what is to be his administration’s last budget, during which heads of agencies gave their inputs on what it takes to ensure key reforms and programs are sustained.
The 2016 proposed budget will be presented to Congress soon after Mr. Aquino delivers his final State of the Nation Address when Congress reconvenes in a joint session on July 27.
Palace officials, however, gave no other details on the Cabinet-approved budget for the various departments, bureaus and agencies under the national government.
The administration has retained its growth targets for 2015 and 2016 at 7 percent to 8 percent, although for 2016, the government views the upper end of the gross domestic product goal as a “challenge.”
The Cabinet also wants a borrowing mix of 85 percent from local sources and 15 percent from foreign loans.
During the special Cabinet meeting, Mr. Aquino also called the attention of the department secretaries on a recent sidebar report in the June 15 issue of TIME Magazine Asia listing the Philippines as having the highest number of citizens saying they were optimistic on finding jobs at 66 percent.
Time Magazine reported the Philippines was followed by the US at 51 percent; India, 34 percent; Venezuela, 22 percent; Sudan, 18 percent; and Italy, 3 percent.
In a statement, the Palace noted that the TIME report, which cited a Gallup poll covering 130 countries asking citizens’ opinions on local job opportunities, mirrored a similar survey of the Social Weather Stations in March 2015 pegging the number of Filipinos expecting their personal quality of life to improve or net personal optimism at a “very high” +37 percent—the highest since 1987. In the same survey, net optimism among Filipinos about the Philippine economy was recorded at a “high” of +6 percent, the Palace said.
It added that “President Aquino, who is known for his keen observation of the latest economic trends, [had] said these surveys firmly attest to the efficacy of the economic and social reforms of the administration that have resulted to a rapidly expanding job market and a decline in unemployment rate, which was recorded at 6.6 percent as of January 2015.”
The Palace said that for the remaining months of the Aquino administration, the President asked the Cabinet to “intensify the implementation of programs that would further bolster the foundations for sustainable and inclusive growth and progress for all Filipinos.”
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An election year is generally good for the economy therefore we should expect an impressive growth during the first half of 2016. The ongoing huge PPP projects (Skyway, LRT2) and those that are about to start next year (LLDEP, CALAX and several airport refurbishment) greatly contributes to a positive outlook for 2016.
Depending on who will be the next president continuity of the sound economic policies of the current administration and continuous drive against corruption and government inefficiencies should lure both foreign and local investors.
Business leaders must start to set their sight on Mindanao as this big mass of land is the growth area on power/energy, agriculture and tourism. It is about time that the government solicits PPP project proposal on rail system, expressways and airport and port refurbishment.