The Administration’s Objective to Reduce the Fiscal Deficit to 3% of GDP by 2028: Why and how?

A few weeks ago, the author attended a presentation on the Philippine economy and prospects for 2023. A discussant from the Department of Finance indicated that the Administration aims at reducing the fiscal deficit from 8.6 percent of gross domestic product in 2021 (the result of the COVID pandemic...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Felipe, Jesus
Format: text
Published: Animo Repository 2023
Subjects:
GDP
Online Access:https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/res_aki/95
https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/res_aki/article/1083/viewcontent/DLSU_AKI_Policy_Brief_2023_06_002.pdf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: De La Salle University
Description
Summary:A few weeks ago, the author attended a presentation on the Philippine economy and prospects for 2023. A discussant from the Department of Finance indicated that the Administration aims at reducing the fiscal deficit from 8.6 percent of gross domestic product in 2021 (the result of the COVID pandemic) to 3 percent by 2028. She referred to this reduction as “solid fiscal management” that “will promote long-term growth". This article argues that this is a dubious target because the government cannot control the deficit. Moreover, claiming that this reduction will promote long-term growth is poor economics. So is the idea of “fiscal responsibility” based on the false premises that sovereign governments have limited financial resources (operate with financial constraints) or that they risk “running out of money.”