PH seen resilient amid ‘hostile’ environment

The Philippine economy is expected to remain resilient amid a “hostile” global environment that hurt household wealth across the world, the 2018 Allianz Global Wealth Report showed.

The view comes as domestic growth for 2019 slowed and forecasts for 2020 have been tempered.

Allianz report cited the escalating trade conflict between the United States and China, and the tightening of monetary conditions.

Through 2018, it said financial assets in Asia fell 0.9 percent—faster than the 0.4-percent drop in emerging markets.

Allianz noted that despite prevailing negative sentiments, the Philippines grew by 6.2 percent in 2018.

“A slowdown is expected in 2019 but fundamentals remain very strong. Country’s expected GDP (gross domestic product) growth will be above that of many developed and developing economies,” Efren Caringal, chief financial officer of Allianz Philippines, said in a statement.

“This resilience is remarkable considering the hostile global economic context, and bodes well for short- to medium-term growth,” he added.

Caringal added that headline inflation had cooled down, falling to a near three-year low of 1.7 percent last month.

It also cited Philippine deposit and loan growth moderating last year. Meanwhile, consumer loans increased by 11.5 percent, against 17.2 percent in 2017. Deposits advanced by 8.9 percent against 11.6 percent in 2017.

Last week, the Asian Development Bank cut the GDP outlook for the Philippines to 6 percent this year. For 2020, it lowered the forecast of 6.4 percent to 6.2 percent.

Elsewhere in the world, household wealth has declined. The 2018 Allianz Global Wealth Report found that global gross financial assets of private households fell by 0.1 percent and remained more or less flat at 172.5 trillion euros.

Global equity prices fell by around 12 percent in 2018, which had a direct impact on asset growth, Allianz noted.