Phl to grow at faster pace this year - PIDS

Despite global economic challenges, the Philippine economy is expected to expand at a faster pace this year than in 2023, according to state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies PIDS).

- LOUELLA DESIDERIO

“GDP (gross domestic product) will likely grow between 5.5 to six percent in 2024,” PIDS research fellow Margarita Debuque-Gonzales along with research analysts Mark Gerald Ruiz and Ramona Maria Miral said in a study titled, “Macroeconomic Outlook of the Philippines in 2023-2024: Prospects and Perils.”

This year’s growth forecast is higher than the authors’ projected 5.2 percent growth in 2023.

If realized, both forecasts would fall below the government’s growth targets for this year and last year.

In particular, the government is aiming for 6.5 to 7.5 percent growth for this year, narrowed from its previous target of 6.5 to eight percent, amid challenges such as the impact of El Niño as well as external price pressures from geopolitical tensions.

Last year, the government’s growth goal was at six to seven percent. In the third quarter of 2023,