The Philippine economy will continue to grow under President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s administration, a Filipino economist made the projection on Monday.

Michale Batu based his calculation on the country’s macro-economic fundamentals, which he said would remain strong as evidenced by several favorable factors.

Batu also said the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and gross national product (GNP) by extension will continue to grow as the inflation rate also dips.

“Pero hindi po ako nagsasabi na 100 percent ay bababa ito ngayong Enero, pero may mga indicators na baka ngayong Enero, bababa na ito (I’m not saying that 100 percent the inflation rate will decrease, but there are indicators),” Batu said during a Laging Handa briefing, noting that some other economists also see the inflation at its peak and being expected to drop this month.

Batu’s prediction for the economy to grow further was based on the reopening of other sectors that did not immediately reopen following the onslaught of the pandemic.

“So makikita pa rin natin na makakatulong iyan, iyong pagrere-open na iyan noong mga pockets na iyan sa mga darating na buwan. So aasahan natin na iyong growth ay tataas pa rin (We should expect the reopening of the pockets will be helpful in the coming months. So we should also expect for growth),” he said.

He said he also sees factors in the improvement of Philippine Peso-US dollar exchange and the slight decrease of petroleum prices.

Batu said he hopes President Marcos’ foreign trips could result to actual investments, which will also be helpful to the economy this year.

Batu is a Filipino-Canadian economist, specializing in applied econometrics, applied macroeconomics, development economics and the scholarship of teaching and learning economics.

Currently, he is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada.