House Speaker Martin Romualdez (Speaker’s office)

House Speaker Martin Romualdez has attested to the economic flourish that the Philippines is enjoying under the President Marcos.

Romualdez did so in his speech during the opening of the third regular session of the 19th Congress on Monday morning, July 22.

“Malinaw po ang estado ng ating ekonomiya. Matibay at matatag. Pinag-titiwalaan hindi lamang sa loob ng ating bansa kundi maging sa buong mundo,” stressed the leader of the 300-plus strong House of Representatives.

(The state of our economy is clear. It is tough and resilient. It inspires trust not only within the country but in the entire world.)

Romualdez gave this glowing testimonial of the Marcos administration's efforts just hours before the President’s arrival at the House for the latter's traditional State of the Nation Address (SONA).

According to Romualdez, the Philippine economy grew by an average of 6.1 percent from the third quarter of 2022--or the time that President Marcos took over Malacañang--to the first quarter of 2024.

For the first quarter of 2024 alone, the Philippine economy outperformed Indonesia (5.1 percent), Malaysia (4.2 percent), Singapore (2.7 percent), and Thailand (1.5 percent), the Speaker said

He noted that last May, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) projected that the country’s growth target of 6 to 7 percent this year is achievable with the implementation of appropriate government policies.

“As a result, the country is expected to continue outperforming most emerging economies and expand further to a range of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent in 2025,” said Romualdez, Leyte's 1st district representative and president of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD).

He said such forecast is not far from the growth projections for the Philippines in 2025 by key international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (6.2 percent), the Asian Development Fund (6.1 percent) and the World Bank (5.9 percent).

HAVE YOU READ THIS?

https://mb.com.ph/2024/7/22/perfect-romualdez-gives-marcos-a-10-for-performance-since-last-sona

“I believe, dear colleagues, that the policies have all been put in place and the gains of a competent, focused, and thorough legislative process are now bringing significant improvements to our economy,” Romualdez added.

He said as a result of the Philippines’ continued economic expansion, respected credit rating firm Fitch Ratings affirmed last month the country’s investment-grade long-term foreign currency trading at “BBB” rating with a stable outlook.

“This indicates the country’s robust medium-term growth and suggests a reduced credit risk. It also states that our ability to meet financial obligations is sufficient. This can be attributed, in part, to the pursuit of priorities such as the Build-Better-More infrastructure program and investments in Public-Private Partnerships,” he said.

Marcos' Palace term will last until 2028.