MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines may hit its economic growth targets for 2018 and 2019, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said Tuesday, even as he flagged agriculture’s lackluster performance as the “weakest link.”In an interview with ANC, Diokno said the domestic economy may hit the low-end of the government’s downwardly revised 6.5-6.9 percent goal for 2018, and 7-8 percent growth target set in 2019. “Our growth really is domestic driven: ‘Build, Build, Build’ and investment in human capital,” the Budget chief said, referring to the Duterte administration’s ambitious infrastructure plan. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia earlier said the economy would need to expand by at least 7.0 percent in the fourth quarter to attain the low-end of the government’s target for 2018. Now it’s 0.4 percent — in fact, sometimes, negative,” Diokno said, adding that Duterte has been “putting pressure” on Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol. The Philippine Statistics Authority is scheduled to report the fourth quarter and full-year 2018 national accounts on January 24.

Source: Philippine Star January 08, 2019 05:15 UTC