Philippine remains confident in reaching economy growth target 2015

Philippine government is confident that the country's economy could still reach the 7 to 8 percent growth target for this year, Communications secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said Wednesday.

Coloma said state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) opted t make a conservative forecast when it said that the country is only likely to grow by 6.8 percent this year or lower than the government's growth targets.

"While PIDS has opted to adopt a conservative stance, we remain upbeat about the attainability of a 7 to 8 percent growth in accordance with the PDP (Philippine Development Plan) targets. We could sense the high level of business confidence coupled with the continuing strength of the country's macro-economic fundamentals," he said.

PIDS OIC-vice president Adoracion Navarro, during the forum Philippine Business and Economic Outlook for 2015 and Beyond, said the Philippine economy faces several hurdles to growth this year like a decline in revenues in oil importation and the Bureau of Internal Revenue's collections following the implementation of the tax exemption on de minimis benefits and higher tax exemption ceiling on 13th month pay.