‘More speed bumps’ to come from El Niñohome/Business/Top Business/‘More speed bumps’ to come from El NiñoThe El Niño currently being felt by the Philippines could halt an inflation slowdown, an ING Bank economist said, adding to the economic growth challenge caused by delays to the 2019 national budget. “El Niño will undoubtedly hamper our agricultural production, which in itself is coming off a lackluster performance in 2018,” Mapa said, pointing to crop damage and poor fisheries harvests due to droughts. The ING economist said the implementation of the rice tarrification law, which liberalized the entry of imported rice, would mitigate the impact of El Niño “to some extent”. Mapa also noted that the delayed approval of the 2019 budget was already holding back the economy and said legislators needed to act. Growth targets for 2019 and 2020 were cut later that day by the interagency Development Budget Coordinating Committee, which cited the ongoing budget delay, El Niño and the US-China trade war.

Source: Manila Times March 14, 2019 16:49 UTC