A view of the Philippines The Philippine economy will sustain its expansion in 2018 and 2019, with the main driving force being the infrastructure facility development programme as well as taxation reform policy launched by President Rodrigo Duterte.
According to the report of the ASEAN 3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) on March 16, the Philippine economy may grow by 6.8 percent in 2018 from 6.7 percent in the previous year, before expanding to 6.9 percent next year thanks to surging exports and gradual improvements on budget execution.
The country kept the inflation rate at 3.2 percent in 2017, however, it reached 4 percent in the early period of 2018 and is expected to grow slightly in the year, due to impacts of increases in taxation, crude oil price, and domestic currency value.
However, the inflation rate is forecast to drop to 3 percent as set by the Government in 2019, according to the report.
AMRO, based in Singapore, has the responsibility for giving reports on policy assistance to ensure the economic-financial stability of ASEAN members and three partners, namely China, Japan and the Republic of Korea./.