PH seen growing by 6-7% yearly in next 5 yrs

The Philippine economy is expected to grow between 6 and 7 percent yearly over the next five years due to increased public and private sector investments in health, education and infrastructure.

A senior World Bank official on Friday said the improving state of governance in the country would help drive high growth rates in the long term, eventually leading to lower poverty levels and better lives for Filipinos.

“The government should just continue what it is doing. Ramp up investments in infrastructure, health and education,” said Rogier van den Brink, lead economist for the World Bank’s Poverty Reduction and Economic Management group in the Philippines.

Last week, the World Bank said the Philippine likely grew by 6.9 percent last year or near the top end of the government’s target for 2013. This would make the Philippines the fastest-growing economy in Southeast Asia, despite the devastation caused by Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

The World Bank said growth would be driven by the continued growth of remittances from migrant workers, increased infrastructure spending and a possible surge in exports amid the recovery of developed markets like the United States.

This year, growth is expected to dip slightly to 6.5 percent as the effects of the November typhoon will likely be felt by the entire country. By next year, growth is seen peaking at 7.1 percent due to the “stimulus” effect of reconstruction efforts in the Visayas, the multilateral lender said.

In 2016, it said the Philippine economy would grow by 6.5 percent. “For 2016, we basically are projecting our long term growth forecast which is 6 to 7 percent,” van den Brink said.

He said this growth range of 6 to 7 percent would persist in the long term or for five more years, although he conceded that making forecasts that far ahead of time was difficult.

The official said improvements in governance to curb graft and corruption was key to sustaining the country’s growth momentum. He said cleaning up the government’s image would make the Philippines an even more attractive destination to foreign investors.

He cited a government initiative last week to make 650 government data points from various sectors, ranging from public health data to port collection statistics, available for anyone to download online.

“Very few governments have done it. You’re leading the way on it and a lot of people will analyze data now,” he said. “This will improve governance a lot. You’re probably the first country in the region to do this,” he added.