Philippines economy seen to sustain strong GDP growth
Despite a slowdown in the last few quarters, the Philippines may sustain strong economic growth in the coming years according to Moody’s Analytics. In Moody’s latest economic outlook, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to grow at around 6-7% over the next few years. Moody’s Analytics economist Vaesna Wong said though the Philippines is expected to be a strong performer in the future, slow growth may continue to persist owing to strong imports, while the combination of higher inflation, taxes and interest rates continues to undermine consumer spending. GDP growth eased to its slowest pace in three years at 6.1% in the third quarter from 6.2 in the second quarter and 6.6 in the first quarter. These have been due to weak exports and lower household spending. The current GDP growth is shy of the government’s 6.5-6.9% target for 2018. However, Moody’s Analytics draws confidence from a boost of an inflow of overseas workers’ remittances, and a robust business process outsourcing processing industry.