House leaders said yesterday that the 5.1 percent economic growth posted by the country last year should set the stage for a more solid outlook this year, notwithstanding the opposition efforts to drag down the administration’s performance.
Reps. Jesli Lapus (NPC, Tarlac), chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, and Wilhelmino Sy Alvarado (Lakas, Bulacan), chairman of the House Committee on Entrepreneurship Development, expressed optimism that the economy will continue to perform well this year despite the political noise and skepticism displayed by government detractors, as they expressed hope growth this year would be markedly higher than in 2005.
Lapus and Alvarado were reacting to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) report that the economy grew by 5.1 percent for 2005, which is just below the government’s target of 5.3 percent growth but better than most private sector forecasts of below five percent.
Lapus said the prospects for 2006 are good since the economy has displayed resilience as businesses as well as the markets are no longer easily affected by the political noise.
"With proper implementation of reforms, we can surpass our performance last year and exceed our growth target for this year. Improved tax collection efforts are crucial in hitting our target revenues aided by the increase in the Value-Added Tax (VAT) to 12 percent from 10 percent this February," said Lapus.
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