ASEAN Business Advisory Council (BAC) Philippines chairperson Joey Concepcion is optimistic that this year’s Christmas will be “a very good one” for Filipinos despite a slight reduction in business confidence and growth forecasts.

Joey Concepcion (Go Negosyo/Facebook)

During the recently held Pandesal Forum, the Go Negosyo founder countered the downtrend and focused on the lowering inflation rate.

“I am very optimistic that this Christmas will be a very good one,” Concepcion, a former economic adviser during the Duterte administration, said.

“Inflation has gone down – maybe not to the level of a couple of years back – but it is moving down . . . A lot of MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises) have recovered and are now cash-flow positive,” he added.

His statement was in reaction to several reports that point to a downtrend in the economy.

A recent survey released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed business confidence fell 40.8 percent to 35.8 percent in the third quarter, though this was attributed to the decline in sales and demand for goods and services due to weather-related disruptions and other seasonal factors.

Concepcion backed the BSP’s explanation for the lower growth outlook.

“Inflation is caused by external factors and hopefully these things will turn around,” he said in an earlier interview on “Business and Politics.”

Both the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and S&P Global Ratings also adjusted their growth outlook for the Philippines this year to slightly lower than the government’s six percent to seven percent target.

But the ASEAN-BAC chairperson stressed that these numbers alone are not determinants to the economy’s growth.

“In business, we don’t look at these things too close, you have to look at it at the end of the year to really see how things are . . . We should not look at one number and be discouraged,” he said.

Concepcion also explained how fuel prices are being impacted by “worldwide inflation.”

“Our economy will have its ups and downs. It’s worldwide inflation. Yung pagtaas ng fuel, hindi atin lang [the price increases in fuel are not our problem alone],” he said.

“There was a very bad period in inflation but now it’s going down. We’re not at the lowest level, we’re somewhere in the middle, and most prices are gradually coming down. Some are still up because there are shortages but eventually inflation will temper down,” he added.

But more importantly, Concepcion believes that the government has a pro-active stance in the situation.

“Because of PSAC, it has made [private sector] work as a team with the government. Getting the best minds to work for the government for free is one the best things this government has done,” said Concepcion, referring to the Private Sector Advisory Council.

PSAC was set up by President Marcos to give private sector guidance to help the government achieve its economic objectives.

“We have good people in government; but if you add the entrepreneurial drive and vision of these people [in PSAC], this is a big plus . . . in helping the government push our economy forward.”