THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that the Philippines will remain one of the top performing economies in Asia in 2018 and 2019, a government official said.
"IMF forecasts the country to grow economically by 6.5 percent in 2018, next to India which is to projected to grow by 7.3 percent, and China which is expected to grow by 6.6 percent," said National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Assistant Secretary Carlos Bernardo O. Abad Santos during the Sulong Pilipinas Philippine Development Forum 2018 at the SMX Convention Center in SM Lanang Premier on Wednesday, November 28.
Abad Santos said that based on the Philippine government's assumption as of October this year, the country's real gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to grow by 6.5 to 6.9 percent in 2018 and by 7 to 8 percent in 2019 and 2020.
"Based on the Regional Development Plan of region 11 (Davao region), GRDP (gross regional domestic product) is targeted to grow by 10.5 to 11.5 percent by 2022," Abad Santos said.
"This will be driven by constructions, particularly integrated multi-model transportation linkages, digital infrastructures, and agro-industrial processing," Abad Santos added.
The projected growth figures are also expected to create employment opportunities.
"The country's unemployment rate recorded the lowest by 5.5 percent in 2016. Although it chinned up a little bit to 5.7 percent in 2017 due to the vulnerability of the agricultural sector," Abad Santos said.
He said the next years will be a good period to increase future investments despite huge spending on infrastructure under the current administration's "Build, Build, Build" program.
