recto says.....hmmmmm

NEDA
STATEMENT OF SECRETARY RALPH G. RECTO
10.01.2008

On the US Congress rejection of US$700 billion bailout: I did not expect the US Congress to pass the bill on Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 involving US$700 billion bailout. But I expect the US Congress to pass an even better package. The move will have an effect of calming the financial market. Having said that, this won’t stop the US economy from going into a recession, which will have an effect on the global economy. The Philippines will not be spared. We are now downscaling our targets for 2008 and 2009.

On the revision of 2008-2009 economic growth projections: The economic managers have accepted my suggestion to revise the Philippine economic projections downwards in the light of recent global developments.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for this year is projected to grow between 4.4 percent to 4.9 percent from the Development Budget Coordination Committee

(DBCC) July projection of 5.5 percent to 6.4 percent. GDP growth projection for 2009 is between 4.1 percent to 5.1 percent. The bright side is we expect food and oil prices to stabilize and expect inflation to be lower.

Exports will be flat, interest rates will slightly go up, and government deficit will be within target.