The Philippine economy is seen to grow at least 5.8% in the next five years, London-based international lender Standard Chartered Bank said.
Based on the lender’s survey among its clients in Manila, Standard Chartered’s top financial-institution and corporate clients revealed their bullishness on the Philippine outlook in the next five years, NewsNow reported.
“More than 80% expect gross domestic product growth of above 5%, with the majority (45%) estimating 5-5.9% growth over the next five years,” Standard Chartered said.
For 2016 alone, Standard Chartered said its clients are more bullish than the bank on the Philippines’ outlook.
“More clients (a net 32%) expected business prospects to improve in the year ahead than was the case in 2015 (24%),” the lender said.
“This is due to a higher percentage of clients expecting better growth and a lower percentage expecting lower growth. We expect GDP growth to remain stable this year at 5.7%,” it added.
The country’s GDP surprised on the upside in the fourth-quarter last year, boosting full-year 2015 growth to 5.8%. The Philippine GDP growth has averaged a strong 5.9% from 2011 to last year.
“Almost four in 10 expect growth to improve, and one in 10 expects growth of above 7%,” Standard Chartered said.
“We share our clients’ views. We estimate GDP growth of 5.8% for the next five years, with significant upside potential for above-6% growth once near-term headwinds start to fade,” it added.
The National Economic and Development Authority earlier said the country has the capacity to grow at a faster pace this year as long as sound fundamentals and ongoing structural changes in the economy are sustained and global economy picks up.
The government is aiming for 7-8% economic output in 2016.
