MANILA (Thomson Financial) - The Philippine government is scaling down its
economic growth target this year to 6 percent to 6.7 percent from an earlier
target of 6.3 percent to 7 percent due to the dampening impact of a U.S.-led
global slowdown and soaring food and energy prices, according to a report on
Monday from the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
"We have to revise because there will be slower growth as production is
affected by increasing oil and food prices," Economic Planning Secretary Augusto
Santos was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
The new targets will still need the approval of the Cabinet-level
Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), an inter-agency body that sets
the government's macroeconomic and fiscal goals.
The revised growth target comes on the heels of a record 7.3 percent GDP
growth in 2007, the country's fastest expansion in three decades, driven by
domestic consumption.
rocel.felix@thomsonreuters.com
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