The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) could hit 5.5 percent growth for this year as more sectors of the economy are reopened and mobility restrictions are eased, according to the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).
The DBCC, an inter-agency body that sets the country's macroeconomic targets, has adjusted upwards its growth assumption during its 180th meeting late Tuesday, Dec. 14.
The economic managers announced that the government now expects the GDP to grow by five percent to 5.5 percent in 2021. The new GDP assumption is better than an earlier target band set by the DBCC of four percent to five percent.
“As we continuously relax restrictions and increase mobility, economic performance is expected to accelerate further in the last quarter of the year,” the DBCC said in a joint statement.
Meanwhile, economic growth targets for the medium-term were retained at seven percent to nine percent for 2022 and at six percent to seven percent by 2023 and 2024.
“With our strong economic performance in 2021, the DBCC is optimistic that the country’s GDP will return to its pre-pandemic level by 2022,” the committee said.
The DBCC attributed its rosy economic prospects to the government’s accelerated COVID-19 vaccination drive, which has enabled the safe and targeted reopening of the economy.
“With 41.5 million Filipinos now fully vaccinated, we have seen COVID-19 cases and deaths fall sharply even as we relaxed restrictions in the last quarter of the year,” the DBCC said.
“This led to an additional employment of 1.3 million compared to the pre-pandemic level, above-target revenue collections, and a strong and early recovery,” it added.