World Bank trims 2018-19 PH growth forecasts

Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2018 05:58:28 +0000

THE World Bank trimmed its Philippine growth forecasts for this year and the next, citing recent economic trends.

“As part of its forecasting exercise, the World Bank has updated its growth projections for the Philippines to 6.4 percent in 2018 and 6.5 percent in 2019,” the Washington-based multilateral institution’s Manila office said in a statement released on Friday.

Both estimates are lower than the government’s revised 6.5-6.9 percent target for this year and the 2019 goal of 7.0-8.0 percent.

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth is running below target based on latest data, averaging 6.3 percent as of end-September following first to third quarter outturns of 6.6 percent, 6.2 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively.

The World Bank said that these new forecast numbers were slight revisions of its growth projections of 6.5 percent for 2018 and 6.7 percent for 2019, released through the “Philippines Economic Update” in October this year.

“A strong, consistent delivery of the infrastructure investment agenda while sustaining improvements in health, education and social protection will be key to maintaining the robust and inclusive growth outlook of the Philippines,” Rong Qian, World Bank senior economist, was quoted as saying.

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