Finance Secretary Carlos G Dominguez III said on Thursday that the Philippine economy needs to grow above six percent annually in the next five to six years to cut the country’s debt.
He told Bloomberg Television in an interview that there is no issue in repayment of debt incurred during the pandemic due to favorable interest rates and term of around 40 years.
“We’re not worried about the repayment. We have to really grow out of the debt. In other words, expand our economy by better than 6 percent per year, over the next five or six years,” he said.
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Earlier the Department of Finance (DOF) said it has raised around $22.55 billion in budgetary support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank (WB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and $3.25 billion in grants and loans for its pandemic response.
The gross domestic product (GDP) target for this year has been set at 7-9 percent, and 6-7 percent for 2023-2024.
Dominguez said given the volume of borrowings the new administration will have to design “policies and stick to very strict fiscal discipline to grow out of debt.”
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The domestic economy beat the government’s 5.5-percent target for 2021 and has expanded by 5.7 percent.
He said the Russia-Ukraine war would impact Philippine economy’s recovery due to impact of the war on oil and grain prices.
