By Komfie Manalo
The Philippines is forecasted to end 2024 with one of the strongest economic growths in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region, according to the latest quarterly update of the ASEAN+3 Regional Economic Outlook (AREO) released by the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) on Tuesday.
The country's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to expand to 6.1% this year and 6.1% in 2025, making it the second fastest-growing economy in ASEAN.
"We have shaved it down from 6.3 to 6.1 [percent], which is in light of the data that comes out in the first half of the year, so as I said before, we are always looking at the data very closely and reviewing them," said Khor.
"The Philippine growth is pretty robust and will increase next year to 6.3%. So, this is well within the official range of 6-7%while we are on the low side. But we will look at the data closely, and we may revise it up in the second half of the data to show that the economy becomes stronger," AMRO chief economist Hoe Ee Khor said.
AMRO's latest forecast was lower than the 6.3% and 6.5% earlier projected for 2024 and 2025.
The report, however, showed that the projection is the second highest in the region, after Vietnam's 6.3% and 6.5% economic growth forecasts for 2024 and 2025.
Khor explained that the economic growth projections of many of the region's countries are downgraded due to the weaker-than-expected recovery in the external sector.
Meanwhile, inflation is projected to settle at 3.3% this year, lower than AMRO's earlier forecast of 3.6%.
For 2025, headline inflation is forecast to decelerate further to 3.1%.
Khor said that in the Philippines, inflation has finally come off the peak within the 2% to 4% target.
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