CLARK FREEPORT – The Philippines’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is seen to accelerate to 6.7 percent this 2018, up from 6.6 percent last year, a report from the World Bank said.
Ernesto Pernia, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general, said the country is going to perform better than China this year based on this forecast.
“The forecast of the World Bank is about 6.7 percent GDP growth rate this year but we expect to do better than 6.7 percent,” Pernia told Central Luzon stakeholders during the recent Philippine Economic Briefi ng here.
Household consumption and government spending on infrastructure will be the key drivers of economic growth on the spending side, he said.
“Exports, though still performing lower than imports, are going to be performing better in the coming years given that the global economic growth has been forecast to do better this year than last year. In fact, we have surpassed the 3.7 percent forecast of the International Monetary Fund with 3.9 percent global economic growth rate that impact directly on our exports,” he explained.
On the supply side, Pernia said construction and infrastructure development will play a big factor.
In addition, manufacturing resurgence and the service sector will continue to be the biggest piece of the economy on the supply side.
Agriculture is also expected to be performing better this year than last year, he noted.
However, despite these milestones, Pernia reminded the public to be vigilant to threats to ensure that these projections will be achieved.
