FY 2024 BUDGET TO SUPPORT GOV’T EFFORTS IN ADDRESSING INFLATION AND SUPPORTING GROWTH — NEDA

The proposed PHP5.768-trillion national budget for 2024 will support the government’s efforts to address inflation, protect the purchasing power of Filipino families, and address the constraints to investment and inclusive economic growth according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

“We are determined to address the inflation problem, resulting in the easing of both food and non-food inflation. The country’s overall inflation has been decelerating since February 2023, with both food and non-food inflation moderating,” said NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan during the national budget briefing with the Senate Committee on Finance on August 15, 2023.

However, he said that despite the moderate 5.3-percent growth of the Philippine economy in the first half of 2023, there remain risks that might aggravate inflation and decrease Filipinos’ purchasing power.

[Read the Joint Statement by the Economic Managers on the Philippine Economic Performance for the Second Quarter of 2023]

During the briefing, Balisacan also highlighted that household consumption remains the main driver of economic growth on the expenditure side as it grew by 6.0 percent in the first half of 2023, despite domestic and external headwinds.

Thus, he further stated that the economic team will focus on and commit to sustaining the downward trend in inflation by intensifying supply-side interventions and demand-side management.

Moreover, the government will implement priority measures ensuring food security and reducing transport, logistics, and energy costs to strengthen the purchasing power of Filipinos.

Along with other measures to ramp up spending by the public sector, Balisacan said that the government is optimistic that the Philippine economy will grow by at least 6.6 percent in the second semester of 2023 to achieve the full-year growth target of 6.0-7.0 percent.

“We need to grow by 6.6 percent in the second half in order to achieve the lower target of 6 percent for the entire year. We really believe that it is achievable. We have not lost the value of the underspending in the first semester that we can deploy in the second semester. That will actually add to the assumed growth of 6.2 percent for the second semester. So, you’ll have all these underspent resources put into the second semester. Inflation is also expected to further decelerate. That would buoy consumer demand, investment, and the rest of the economy,” he said.