* Manila cuts 2021-2022 growth goal to 6.5%-7.5%
* Exports growth weighed down by trade tensions
* Government revises medium-term forex assumptions
(Adds details on export, economic planning secretary's
comments)
MANILA, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte's government has given up on its goal to expand the
economy by as much as 8.0% in the medium-term due to rising
uncertainties, including the U.S.-Sino trade tensions.
The government said on Wednesday it cut its growth goals for
2021 and 2022 to 6.5%-7.5% from previous forecast of 7.0%-8.0%,
but kept the 2020 target at 6.5%-7.5%.
"We are going to be affected adversely by the trade war
which will affect global growth," Economic Planning Secretary
Ernesto Pernia told Reuters. "It is not only the Philippines
that is down scaling the targets."
The government also trimmed this year's growth target to
6.0%-6.5% from 6.0%-7.0%, to reflect weak economic activity in
the first-half due to the delay in the budget approval, which
slowed government spending.
A joint congressional committee on Wednesday approved the
government's 4.1 trillion pesos ($80.5 billion) budget for 2020,
to avoid a repeat of this year's delays and pave the way for
higher infrastructure spending to boost growth.
Gross domestic product in July-September grew 6.2% from last
year, exceeding the prior quarter's 5.5% growth, increasing the
country's chances of meeting at least the bottom-end of this
year's revised growth goal.
An inter-agency committee in charge of setting the
government's medium-term macroeconomic and fiscal targets said
it also revised foreign exchange assumptions.
The forex assumption is now 51-52 to the dollar for 2019,
and 51-54 from 2020 to 2022, it said in a statement.
Export growth projections for this year and 2020 were cut to
1.0% and 4.0%, respectively, from the previous 2.0% and 6.0% due
to the prolonged trade dispute. The government kept the export
growth projection for 2021 and 2022 at 6.0%.
At the start of Duterte' term in June 2016, his government
set a medium-term growth target of as much as 8% as it laid out
an ambitious $180 billion infrastructure overhaul called the
"Build, Build, Build".
Even that plan was modified after authorities admitted that
several big ticket infrastructure projects, like long bridges,
included in that programme, were not feasible. = 50.91 Philippine pesos)