Marcos: Attracting investments necessary to increase economic activities

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Friday underscored the importance of attracting investments for the country’s economic growth.

Marcos, after earlier expressing his elation over the Philippines’ 7.6% full-year economic growth in 2022, said that the government needed to maintain that rate.

“That is why it has become so important for us to go out and to attract investment into the Philippines because that is the only way for economic activity to increase and therefore to grow the economy,” Marcos said in a video message.

“So, I think that we are headed in the right direction. We still have some interventions that we will have to apply... nonetheless, we are weathering the shocks on the international economic situation, and we are starting to see that the economy is moving in the correct direction," he added.

Still, Marcos noted that for this year, the country is still facing the problem of inflation, "which means there is still a problem of certain sectors of society and economy."

He said that his administration was addressing the problem of inflation and its effects on society.

“We anticipate that within the end of the second quarter, the inflation rate, especially for agricultural products, will come down,” Marcos said.

“Hopefully, as has been forecast by our Central Bank… the inflation rate of the third, fourth quarter of this year will come down to 4%,” he added.

The Philippine Statistics Authority said the 7.6% full-year growth in 2022 was the highest in 46 years since the country recorded an 8.8% growth in 1976.

The country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) posted a growth of 7.2% in the 4th quarter of 2022, according to the PSA.

It mentioned that among the main contributors to the 4th quarter 2022 growth were wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, financial and insurance activities, and manufacturing. — DVM, GMA Integrated News