PH Economic Growth Forecast for 2021 Dipped to 4.5%

The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) economic growth forecast for the Philippines in 2021 dipped as the global pandemic continues to be shrouded in a lot of uncertainty in the coming months within the local and global settings.

Projected economic growth for the Philippines this year fell to 4.5%, based on the ADB’s economic publication, Asian Development Outlook 2021, which was released on Tuesday. This presented a significant decline from the Manila-based lender’s earlier forecast of 6.5% in its Asian Development Outlook 2020 update released in December 2020.

This revised projection also falls below the government’s outlook for 2021 of 6.5% to 7.5%. Economic growth may remain under government estimates as localized lockdowns due to rising Covid cases persist, according to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) is expected to lower its forecast to 6.0% to 7.0%, said Benjamin Diokno, Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

“The recovery in the Philippines is expected to be fragile. Uncertainties over the course of COVID-19 continue to weigh on household and business sentiment,” the ADB stated in its latest report.

Despite the ADB’s recent forecast downgrade, “there are upsides to this projection,” said ADB Philippines country director Kelly Bird. He affirms that their figures still leave room for a lot of growth over the year, especially as the national vaccination rollout progresses.

Bird also noted that the projection already factored in certain government programs meant to support economic recovery as well as a “modest rollout” for the Philippines’ vaccination program with the target of inoculating 60 to 70 million Filipinos by the end of the year.

Source: GMA News