MANILA – Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez on Tuesday said recent challenges could dampen economic expansion but "not enough" to reduce growth projections for the year.
“At this moment, it is reasonable to expect that while these developments might slightly restrain our economic expansion, these threats are not enough to force a dramatic reduction in our growth estimates," Dominguez said in a Senate hearing on the new coronavirus. The full impact of the Taal Volcano eruption, meanwhile, can only be assessed “until it actually happens,” he said. The volcano's ash-driven eruption on Jan. 12 affected farms in Batangas, with losses pegged in the billions.