There was clear convergence among the three major internationalnancial institutions in terms of the Philippines’ growth prospects for 2022. True, the International Monetary Fund slightly downgraded its prognosis but both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank actually upscaled their forecasts. The three institutions were one in estimating that the Philippine economy will grow by 6.5% this year.
They have their own reasons. The IMF is worried that the potential recession in the United States and China could affect local conditions. Such global shocks could come from reduced external trade with both countries such that the country’s growth momentum in the first half of the year is likely to slow down. For the World Bank, the sentiment is very bullish because of accommodative fiscal policy that is expected to recover domestic demand.
Respondent firms are drawn at random from the list of Top 7,000 corporations ranked based on total assets. The BSP represents in its regular survey results that BES provides “advance indication of the direction of change in overall business activity in the economy and in the various companies’ operations as well as in selected economic indicators.”