S&P maintains 6.3% growth outlook for PH

S&P Global Ratings has maintained its 6.3 percent Philippine growth forecast for 2019 as it sees the trade war and the expected resurgence in inflation as major risks to economic expansion.

A report released on Tuesday showed that the debt watcher kept its 6.3-percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth outlook for the Philippine economy this year, which was higher than last year’s actual growth of 6.2 percent and falls near the lower end of the government’s downwardly revised 6.0-7.0 percent target.

“Despite the weaker-than-expected first quarter, we continue to expect GDP growth to come in at the low end of the 6-6.5 percent range this year,” it said.

S&P, however, said risks to external financing and exchange rate volatility were back on the radar as the trade war re-escalates.

“Domestically, a resurgence in inflation from either El Nino or oil prices still remains possible and could weigh on the consumption recovery and the ability of BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) to ease, at a time when the fiscal impulse is already negative in the first half of the year, ” it added.

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