THE National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said they are predicting the Philippines to hit the low end of its 6% to 7% economic growth target this year.

NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon explained that based on the economic indicators, it clearly showed that the country’s economic growth target set by the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).

She said that it can still be hit.

“For the year, ang expectation namin (our expectation) is we will hit the low end of the target, if not close to it. So iyong (the) low end of the target is 6%, so either a 6(%) or ‘yon nga, very close to that 6%,” she said.

Meanwhile, Edillon said that based on the country’s employment data as the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the projection, the agency was “hopeful about 2023.”

Edillon said that the number of jobless Filipinos aged 15 and above went down to 2.09 in October.

It is an improvement from the September rate of 2.26 million.

It also translated to an unemployment rate of 4.2%, while the employment rate stood at 95.8%, and the underemployment rate was 11.7%.