PH growth to buck EM slowdown

The Philippines would buck the trend of weak growth prospects in emerging markets (EMs) amid the United States’ (US) tariffs threat, according to think tank Capital Economics.

- By BEN ARNOLD DE VERA

“In all, aggregate EM growth is likely to slow in the coming quarters… we think growth will generally fall short of consensus expectations,” Capital Economics’ emerging markets team said in a March 26 report.

Besides looming US import tariffs, Capital Economics warned that “weaker capital inflows, lower commodity prices, and tight policy will all drag on growth” across EMs.

The think tank nonetheless noted that “there’s a wide degree of variation at a country level, with rapid growth still likely in parts of Asia (such as India and the Philippines), while Latin America is likely to lag behind.”