Aquino sees ‘even better’ Q2 growth

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Category: Top News

Published on Tuesday, 04 June 2013 21:09

President Aquino has forecast that the second-quarter growth of the economy will be as robust or “even better” than the record-setting 7.8-percent rise in gross domestic product (GDP) during the previous quarter.

“I think the second-quarter figures should be the same,” he said, then added that Malacañang “is hopeful they will be even better.”

But the President would not say if the robust economic growth could lead to another upgrade by Moody’s credit-rating agency, which recently praised the Philippines’s economic performance.

He said he would not want to pre-empt the credit-rating agency, although economists say it would likely follow Fitch and Standard & Poor’s, which recently promoted the Philippines ranking to investment grade.

In a related development, Malacañang said it is setting up a series of meetings between the President and world leaders attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) East Asia summit in Myanmar to lure more investments in the Philippines.

Mr. Aquino leaves for Myanmar on Friday to attend the one-day summit and his series of meetings with the foreign business leaders is “being set up,” according to Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ricky Carandang. 

“We’re going to try to reach a broad range of investors—of potential investors. Our thrust for the last few years has been tourism, agriculture and infrastructure, and we’re hoping that we can get investors to come in on those three areas, in particular,” Carandang added.

He said that while the Myanmar summit meeting would be attended by those who were in the WEF in Davos, Switzerland, it is expected that many of the participants would come from East Asia. “So we’re hoping that those closer neighbors of ours can be enticed to invest more in the Philippines,” Carandang said.

The President will also be personally extending invitations to fellow heads of state in Myanmar to visit the Philippines next year, when Manila hosts the WEF meeting.

“As you also know, we are hosting the forum next year and by tradition, the incoming host personally invites the delegates to the summit,” he added.  The President will also meet with Myanmar President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The agenda of the Aquino administration is to generate inclusive growth, and we can do that by inviting investors who can create jobs because that is the way of sustaining the anti-poverty programs that we have begun, Carandang said.