Think tank Japan Center for Economic Research (JCER) sees the Philippine economy growing minimally quarter-on-quarter in each of the four quarters of 2021 before returning to prepandemic levels by mid-2022.
“We forecast that the Philippines’ recovery will be slow in 2021 because it takes time to control the spread of COVID-19 infections. The schedule of vaccination is uncertain, too,” JCER senior economist Akira Tanaka told the Inquirer.
JCER’s latest forecasts showed a more optimistic full-year 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection of 6.6 percent, compared to its 5.9 percent forecast in December last year.
While JCER’s updated forecast is within the government’s target range of 6.5-7.5 percent GDP expansion, Tanaka said “consumption and capital formation are expected to remain weak in 2021.”
The…
