Palace thanks Pernia for helping steer Philippines to strongest economic growth since mid-70s

Malacañang on Saturday thanked resigned Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia for his services to the Duterte administration’s economic team.

“The Palace expresses its sincerest gratitude to former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia for his valuable contribution to the Philippine economy,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.

“Sec. Pernia formed part of the President's Economic Team which steered the country's strongest economic growth since the mid-1970s,” Roque said.

The Philippine economy has been growing by at least 6% for three consecutive years, its strongest track since the mid-1970s, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)

Pernia on Friday announced his resignation as chief of state planning agency NEDA. 

The resigned NEDA chief said his decision is “due partly to personal reasons and partly to differences in development philosophy with a few of my fellow Cabinet members.”

Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua was appointed as acting secretary of NEDA.

“We expect Acting NEDA Director-General Karl Kendrick Chua who is set to assume office next week to continue the economic momentum set by his predecessor, who is also a former colleague in the UP School of Economics; and work in close coordination with the other members of President Duterte’s economic managers, to prepare the Philippines for a new normal and mitigate the socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Roque said. —Ted Cordero/KG, GMA News