Philippines Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez on Covid and the economy

Philippine Secretary of Finance Carlos Dominguez said the country has made major progress in that contains the pandemic and will return to standard this year.

“We are incredibly self-confident that 2022 will be the calendar year that we will return to normalcy. Regardless of the surge in infections due to omicron in early January, we have succeeded in limiting significant infections and fatalities,” Dominguez explained to CNBC “Squawk Box Asia” on Friday.

He mentioned everyday Covid scenarios are rapidly subsiding from the peak of 39,000 in mid-January to about 2,000 in current days. Dominguez also explained the state has manufactured good progress in its vaccination charge.

“We have administered 132 million photographs as of Feb. 14. A total of 61.5 million Filipinos are now completely vaccinated. More than 9.2 million Filipinos have by now been given their booster pictures,” Dominguez said.

Even with the pandemic, the Philippines posted 5.6% development for 2021. The outlook for 2022 continues to be strong and the authorities expects the economic climate to increase between 7% and 9% this calendar year, said Dominguez.

There are a quantity of “dazzling places” this year that could help the government’s restoration, he extra. That consists of the collection of tax profits, which the authorities expects to return to pre-pandemic concentrations, the finance secretary observed.