Understandably the numbers are nowhere near the ideal convergence of historic high growth and historic low inflation that we saw in 2007, nevertheless these were respectable especially when pitted against those in our region. The Philippine economy continues to be resilient. The 4.6 percent GDP growth rate for 2008 was broad-based with the major domestic sectors providing positive contributions to growth.
I am confident that both domestic private and public consumption on the expenditure side, and services and agriculture on the demand side would continue to lift the economy in 2009. For this year, the GDP is expected to grow between 3.7 to 4.7 percent. Inflation continues to decline.