The World Bank raised its economic growth outlook for the Philippines despite the damage from the Typhoon Karding onslaught, which the government said would not take the country off track of its full-year goal.
In the World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific October 2022 Economic Update, the Washington-based multilateral institution raised its gross domestic product (GDP) outlook for the Philippine to 6.5 percent.
The latest growth estimate was well above the 5.7 percent forecast previously released in April.
“A relaxation of border closures and the related recovery in tourism activity is expected to boost growth,” World Bank said in the report on Tuesday, Sept. 27.
“Output in Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand is expected to surpass pre-pandemic levels of output in 2022,” the bank added.
World Bank’s new GDP projection, however, is at the lower-end of President Marcos’ full-year target of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent, but aligned with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) downward revised forecast.
On Monday, the IMF cut the Philippine growth projection for this year to 6.5 percent from the previous of 6.7 percent in July.
But despite conservative protections of the World Bank and IMF, the National Economic and Development Authority is confident that the country could weather the impact of the recent typhoon that struck the country.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said the 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent economic growth target for 2022 is achievable.
“We are thankful Karding (Noru), which whipped on the belly of the Philippine economy (Luzon’s landmass), was not Ondoy, Ulysses, or Yolanda,” Balisacan twitted on Tuesday.
“Still, damage appeared considerable, though not likely at a level that would make us kiss goodbye to our growth target for this year,” he added.
The economy grew by 7.8 percent in the first half, faster than the target set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee, an inter-agency body that is tasked to set the country’s macroeconomic assumptions.
Based on initial estimates of the Department of Agriculture, damage and losses to the farm sector caused by Typhoon Karding were estimated at P141.38 million.
The initial assessment covers 16,229 hectares of land in the Cordillera Administrative Region, the Ilocos Region, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon, as of 12 noon on Monday, Sept. 26.
This translates to a volume of production loss of 5,866 metric tons of farm produce such as rice, corn, and high value crops, affecting 740 farmers.