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Duterte blames delayed passage of 2019 budget for slow Q1 GDP growth


President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said the delayed passage of the 2019 national budget due to infighting between the two houses of Congress slowed down the economy in the first three months of the year.

The Philippine Statistics Authority reported on Thursday that the economy grew 5.6 percent in the first quarter of 2019, which was the slowest in four years.

According to Duterte's economic managers, the budget impasse in Congress which forced government to operate on a reenacted 2018 budget during the first quarter set off a spending cutback, which, in turn, stifled economic activity.

They said the economy should have grown by at least one percentage point higher, at 6.6 to 7.2 percent in the first quarter, if the 2019 fiscal program had been approved on time, meaning before the end of 2018.

Duterte thought so too.

"May panahon na hindi tayo gumastos. That was the budget na pinag-awayan ng mga congressman at mga senador. Hindi tayo gumastos kasi walang pera...so ang GDP natin talagang bababa 'yan. Ang laki ng nawala," Duterte said in a speech in Cebuano at a campaign rally in Davao City.

The President enacted the 2019 spending measure on April 15. 

Duterte removed P95.37 billion worth of public works appropriations from the original P3.757-trillion spending plan. In his veto message sent to Congress, the President said the items, which came as a result of post-ratification budget realignments made by lawmakers, were not within the “programmed priorities” of the government.

Malacañang called the vetoed public works items unconstitutional.

"But I'd like to assure everybody, all throughout the Philippines, that the money will be divided by regions and equally as needed," the President said.

The Palace said on Thursday it expects the economy to pick up steam in the next three quarters due to the implementation of various infrastructure projects and improving domestic demand. The government set a full-year economic target of 6 to 7 percent for 2019.

"The economic momentum is on our side. The future looks bright despite the prophets of doom and the negative forces that try to mislead our countrymen into believing an opposite outlook, who however refuse to bite," presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said. — BAP, GMA News

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