GDP seen at 6.2% in 2018

In an e-mail, IHS Markit Chief Economist for Asia Pacific Rajiv Biswas said if the 6-percent mark for gross domestic product (GDP) growth was breached last year, it would mean that the Philippines posted its seventh year of economic growth of 6 percent or above. (File Photo: IHS Markit/Facebook)

MANILA — An economist from IHS Markit projects that the Philippine economy likely grew by 6.2 percent in 2018.

In an e-mail, IHS Markit Chief Economist for Asia Pacific Rajiv Biswas said if the 6-percent mark for gross domestic product (GDP) growth was breached last year, it would mean that the Philippines posted its seventh year of economic growth of 6 percent or above.

The 6.2-percent GDP growth outlook in 2018 is lower than the 6.7 percent growth in 2017.

“The pace of economic growth in 2018 was dampened by the slowdown in export growth and widening trade deficit, as well as the impact of rising interest rates as the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) significantly tightened policy rates during 2018 to address rising inflation pressures,” Biswas said.

“However the overall pace of economic expansion in 2018 remained very strong, helped by buoyant private consumption and the ramping up of government infrastructure investment spending, in line with President Duterte’s ‘Build, Build. Build’ infrastructure policy,” he added.

For 2019, the IHS economist has forecast that the country’s GDP will rise by 6 percent, slower than last year’s growth due to global headwinds.

“These headwinds include the impact of the US-China trade war, the slowdown in global electronics new orders, as well as the weakening pace of economic growth in the EU (European Union), which remains an important export market, accounting for around 14 percent of total Philippines merchandise exports,” he said.