Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 24) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday said “the guiding principle” for his administration’s plan in pulling out of the ₱13-trillion national debt is economic growth.
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“We will pull ourselves out of debt via growth. That really is the guiding principle to the economic plan,” Marcos said during a media panel interview where he was asked about his plans to lower the national debt.
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According to latest data from the Bureau of Treasury, the country’s debt remained at a record high level, increasing by 0.02% or ₱3.15 billion from October to November.
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Marcos also said he plans to focus on making the investment pledges “real” for more jobs to be created, which he said would translate to continuous growth that would pull the country out of debt.
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He cited the 4.2% unemployment rate, saying recession could not hit if the rate continues its downward trend.
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The chief executive explained growth may not only rely on investments and also meant improving the quality of jobs, among other factors.
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“It’s not one simple thing. There is no silver bullet. We have to do very many things to make it right because what we are in fact doing is restructuring the entire Philippine economy to adjust to the new world global economy,” he said.
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Marcos: Digitalize, streamline the bureaucracy
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Marcos again raised the government’s need to “digitalize” and “streamline” the bureaucracy for faster processing of documents for citizens and investors.
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“The ease of doing business is because we’re talking about trade. So digitalization is going to be a very important part of that,” he said.
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According to the president, the only entity that Filipinos do not reach out via the internet is the government, which is another reason why he is urgently pushing for the digitalization of agencies.
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“We have to digitalize Customs. We have to digitalize all of these collecting agencies so that the BIR, even the Central Bank, the payments can be made over the internet. All of those things that we don’t do now,” he said.
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