Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 28) — The Philippines is not heading for a recession, the secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.

“I think we’re far from it [recession]. (The) economic team is trying its best,” DBM Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said Thursday on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Procurement Summit 2022.

“We will try to really push and open the economy,” she added.

Filipinos witnessed a pandemic-driven recession in the second quarter of 2020 as the economy shrank by 16.5%. This came following hard lockdowns imposed by the previous administration to lessen the spread of COVID-19.

It exited the recession a year later after recording an 11.8% growth in the April-June period of 2021.

Keeping her optimism, Pangandaman said: “We have our Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF), our socioeconomic agenda, and a national budget that is anchored on and funds our eight-point socioeconomic agenda.”

Under the MTFF, the Marcos administration has crafted the 8-point Socioeconomic Agenda comprised of food security, improved transportation, affordable and clean energy, health care, social services, education, bureaucratic efficiency, and sound fiscal management.

Meanwhile, the DBM proposed ₱5.268 trillion for next year’s spending.

Earlier this October, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said they were on track to approve the proposed 2023 national budget by next month.

However, the local economy grew slower in the second quarter of this year, expanding by only 7.4% from 8.2% in the first three months. Quarter-on-quarter, the economy contracted by 0.1%.

READ: Inflation dampens Q2 2022 economic growth at 7.4%

https://www.cnnphilippines.com/business/2022/8/9/Q2-2022-GDP.html