Growth Forecasts

One of the great past times is to see who will prove to be too bullish or too bearish. Most professional economists in the past few years have been proven to be too dismal, with economic growth outperforming their start-of-the year predictions. So let's put it on record what people are saying today about 2007. Let's return to it a year from now....

From the Manila Times:

UBS Investment Bank expects the Philippine economy to post faster growth this year despite the weakness in exports earnings.

It sees the country’s gross domestic product growing at 5.8 percent this year from 5.4 percent fueled by domestic consumption.

In a related development, the Philippine Institute and Development Study (PIDS) has concluded the government will likely miss its economic growth target this year owing to weak manufacturing sector and election-related delay in public infrastructure projects.

Josef T. Yap, PIDS president, has also projected that GDP would grow 5.8 percent in 2007, three percentages below the government’s lower-end forecast. The government targets a 6.1-percent to 6.7-percent GDP growth this year.