Various organisations predict the steady recovery of the Philippine economy

NEDA is confident that the country’s economy is returning to pre-pandemic levels as early as Q1 of 2022

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) predicts that the Philippine economy will be the fastest-growing in Southeast Asia this year. 

The organisation conducted a report — Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India 2022 — that mentioned the Philippines experiencing a 7 percent GDP growth in 2022, which is at the lower end of the country’s target of 7 to 9 percent.

Its predictions for the Philippine economy surpassed those of Vietnam’s (6.5 percent), Malaysia (6 percent), Cambodia (5.6 percent), Laos (4.6 percent), Singapore (4 percent), Thailand (3.8 percent), and Brunei Darussalam (3.5 percent).

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), however, is confident that the country’s economy is returning to pre-pandemic levels as early as Q1 of 2022. In 2021, it went up by 5.6 percent, which was slightly lower than 2019’s 6.1 percent growth, according to the Philippine News Agency.

“So I think we are still very much on track to our projected growth targets for this year. I still believe that in the first quarter, we will exceed the 2019 level and there [have] been significant developments in the domestic economy shifting to Alert Level 1 which added more than PHP9 billion per week,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA chief Karl Kendrick Chua.

More: The Philippines aims for a 7–9% growth in GDP in 2022

Chua added that the country shifting to Alert Level 1 will generate PHP16 billion (USD307.2 million) per week of economic activity and that face-to-face schooling will add PHP12 billion (USD230.4 million) per week.

Chua also cited this during a Palace press briefing, as reported by INQUIRER.net, saying, “As children get vaccinated, this is the opportunity to open more schools for [in-person] learning, so that we can boost the economy and improve the learning opportunity of children,”

By 2023, the OECD expects the Philippine economy to go up by 6.1 percent, which is within the country’s 6 to 7 percent goal.

The Property Report editors wrote this article. For more information, email: [email protected].