ECONOMIC OUTLOOK. Economist Emilio S Neri Jr discusses his presentation on economic and financial markets outlook before the Xavier Ateneo community.
Report by Jhon Louie B Sabal
Photos by James Ventura
In response to the recent hullabaloo on inflation, the Department of Economics of Xavier Ateneo held a forum on the economic and financial market outlook of the Philippines last September 20 at XU-AVR 1.
The resource speaker was Emilio S Neri Jr, lead economist of the Bank of the Philippine Islands and board member of the Philippine Economics Society.
Neri’s presentation centered on three key highlights, namely, the global market trends and risks, the Philippine growth and foreign exchange outlook, and the determinants of the recent inflation.
He emphasized that the current economic performance of the country was a result of the convolution of external and internal factors, such as the volatility of the world petroleum supply as result of geopolitical tensions in Russia and Turkey, a weaker peso performance due to trade wars and the increase of interest rates in the United States, weaker Philippine exports capacity, among others.
The presentation also pointed out that the country is now on a "better growth performance" compared to the past two decades. The Philippines also poised a higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth compared to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Neri also clarified that the shortcomings on rice production are only a parcel of the inflation. There is higher inflation in vegetables as a result of typhoons and other weather disturbances. There is also a decline in the growth of Northern Mindanao because of the Marawi siege. He is, however, confident that the region will be able to catch up and inflation will likely to decline in 2019.
Fr Roberto C Yap SJ, university president and an economist himself, praised the timing of the forum in positioning the university as the center of academic discussion on Philippine growth and inflation. VP for higher education Fr Rene C Tacastacas SJ and university treasurer Engr Lennie K Ong were also present in the said forum, along with college students, local government officials, and media personnel.
The forum was in partnership with the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS), the think tank of the National Development Authority (NEDA), as part of the 16th Development Policy Research Month.∎
ECONOMICS FORUM. (From left to right) XU Department of Economics chairwoman Caroline Laarni R Serenas, VP for higher education Fr Rene C Tacastacas SJ, BPI lead economist Emilio Neri Jr, and Xavier Ateneo president Fr Roberto C Yap SJ pose for a group photo after the presentation of the certificate and token of appreciation to the resource speaker.