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NewsTranscript
00:00 at the second State of the Nation address of President Bongbong Marcos
00:04 is about the situation of our economy.
00:07 And to discuss about the situation of our economy,
00:12 we have with us our finance secretary,
00:15 Secretary Benjamin Giocno.
00:18 Good morning to you, Secretary Giocno.
00:20 This is Maris, and we are live on Unang Balita.
00:22 Good morning to you, Maris.
00:24 Yes.
00:25 Alright, Secretary, I will ask the most important question of our countrymen,
00:32 of the whole country.
00:33 What is the situation of our economy now,
00:37 and when do you expect the prices of goods to go down?
00:40 Well, first of all, our situation is very good now.
00:46 In fact, the Philippines is one of the fastest-growing countries in the world.
00:51 In fact, our first quarter growth is faster than China, India,
01:00 and other countries here in Asia and even in the world.
01:04 The economy grew by 6.4% in the first quarter of this year,
01:10 and last year, it grew by 7.6%.
01:14 So, the economy is running well.
01:17 And as for inflation, it has decreased for the five consecutive months.
01:23 In fact, the forecast of the central bank, the BSP,
01:28 our inflation rate will go within the target range.
01:34 The target range of the central bank is 2 to 4%, midpoint 3%.
01:41 By the fourth quarter of this year,
01:44 and in fact, there is a chance that we might even overshoot,
01:47 we will go down to 2% by the first quarter of next year,
01:52 but our average for next year will be around 3%.
01:56 Secretary, you mentioned that you expect our inflation rate to reach 2.5% to 4.5% or 2 to 4%.
02:09 What have we done to continue to reach that and is that inflation rate really reachable, Secretary?
02:20 First of all, what the central bank did was good.
02:23 They became aggressive in increasing the interest rate
02:28 while increasing the Fed, that's the US Federal Reserve Board,
02:34 interest.
02:35 The Fed is also aggressive.
02:36 So the central bank also increased its interest rate in conjunction with the increase globally.
02:47 But at the same time, we also did on the executive branch,
02:52 the presidents of the inter-agency committee,
02:57 we looked at the food and non-food inflation.
03:01 We picked up commodities that we thought would be lacking,
03:07 like at that time, the onion, meat, and rice.
03:14 So we controlled it.
03:16 But in the future, the government's focus is to increase production.
03:23 Because inflation also increased last year because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
03:29 So the price of gasoline and some commodities like even fertilizer increased.
03:35 But now, the price of gasoline is declining,
03:40 so it also helps to lower our inflation.
03:43 Secretary, what is the help of the Maharlika Investment Fund
03:49 in reaching our targets?
03:52 Good question.
03:55 The Maharlika Investment Fund will create additional sources
04:02 and different forms of funding for our 194 priority projects
04:10 worth about P8 trillion.
04:13 So if you look at the sources of those 194 projects,
04:20 more than half of it will come from the so-called official development assistance,
04:26 our loans to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank,
04:30 and to other bilateral sources, to other countries.
04:34 Then about 10% of that funding will come from the budget.
04:38 And then around 30% will come from what we call the public-private partnership,
04:45 which was also initiated by the administration.
04:49 So now, with the Maharlika Investment Fund,
04:53 we will have a new source, which is equity from multilaterals, from foreign investors,
05:00 and also funds that are not used by government corporations.
05:06 We can use that for financing our priority projects.
05:11 Secretary, I have another question.
05:16 How is the implementation of the rules and regulations of the Maharlika Investment Fund?
05:24 And will one of these provisions really be implemented
05:27 that will not receive funds from pension funds,
05:32 even though the President mentioned that it really depends on the leadership of the pension funds,
05:37 if we will see that it is only right to invest in the Maharlika Investment Fund, Secretary?
05:43 Okay. First of all, in the preparation of implementing rules and regulations,
05:50 you know, under the law, when the President will sign it,
05:54 the treasurer has 90 days to prepare the implementing rules and regulations
06:01 in consultation with the land bank and the DBP.
06:07 But while the President has not signed it, when it will be approved by the Senate,
06:12 we will start preparing the implementing rules and regulations.
06:16 So we're confident that we will release it before the end of August.
06:24 In fact, there is a scenario that we will release the implementing rules and regulations in the middle of August.
06:31 We are not thinking of using the 90 days to prepare that
06:35 because the preparation is already running before the law is signed.
06:40 Second, your question is what possibility will the GSIS or SSS use their fund for additional equity of the Maharlika Investment Fund.
06:54 The law prohibits that.
06:56 But there are possibilities, for example, there are projects that are running
07:01 that the GSIS or SSS will give a big return.
07:08 Let's say the return on investment is 20%.
07:11 They can invest there, not on the equity side, but as a separate project,
07:18 but subject to the approval of their respective boards.
07:23 All right. Thank you very much for the information you gave us, Secretary Benjamin Giochno.
07:29 And see you later. God bless.
07:32 God bless. Thank you.
07:35 [Waves crashing]
07:38 [Newscast in Tagalog]
07:55 [Music]