World Bank lowers Philippine economic outlook to 6.5% in 2019

MANILA, Philippines — The World Bank sees the Philippine economy growing by 6.5 percent in 2019, a slight revision from its earlier 6.7 percent projected growth next year.

It also downgraded the country’s economic outlook for 2018 from 6.5 percent to 6.4 percent.

“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 said in a statement on Friday

“While persistent high inflation may temper private consumption growth in the fourth quarter of 2018,” the World Bank said that “a moderation in inflation in following quarters is expected to boost consumer confidence and raise private consumption in 2019.”

It also said that the May 2019 midterm elections was “expected to strengthen consumption by temporarily raising employment and disposable incomes in early 2019.”

“Investment growth however maybe be tempered in the first half of 2019 due to the possible reenactment of the first-quarter 2019 budget following a delay in the budget approval process,” World Bank said. “Moreover, global trade is expected to remain weak, thus dampening exports.”

Despite this, “the Philippines remains one of the fast-growing economies in the East Asia and the Pacific Region,” it said. /je