‘Reliance on services could weaken growth’ | Cai Ordinario

THE Philippine economy’s strength remains its greatest weakness this year, especially if vaccinations will not be ramped up, according to the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office .

“[The Philippines has] a very services-oriented economy. If they are able to open up the economy more fully, that will help the service sector recover more robustly. But at the same time, because of the high dependence on the services sector, if they have to close down for any reason because of the outbreak [or a] more infectious and more severe mutation of the virus, [the economy will suffer],” Khor explained.

Despite the slightly higher forecast, Khor said, inflation will remain tame this year. This will give central banks, including the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas , room to maintain interest rates. As of January 25, WTI crude oil prices increased to $83.92 per barrel; Brent crude, $87/bbl; and Dubai crude, which is what the Philippine imports, averaged $83.29/bbl.

“Our own view is that you know, that this year, [we expect] supply to pick up again and because of the slowdown of the global economy, there will be a rebalancing of demand. And, we see oil prices correcting to some extent,” Khor said. Nevertheless, high vaccination coverage has mitigated the risk of nationwide lockdowns, as experienced during the early days of the pandemic.

Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

‘Keeping schools closed will cost more than opening them’ | Cai OrdinarioAS the world marked 100 weeks into the pandemic, experts from the United Nations and the World Bank warned that keeping schools closed will cost more than opening them. This point was made clear in a blog by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) Assistant Director-General for Education…
Source: BusinessMirror - 🏆 19. / 59 Read more »

MWSS probes water output gaps; Maynilad cites weather - BusinessWorld OnlineTHE regulatory office of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) said on Monday that it is probing the prolonged water service interruptions by Maynilad Water Services, Inc. READ:
Source: bworldph - 🏆 9. / 68 Read more »

Stocks weaken as investors await major economic newsLocal share prices weakened as investors wait for the US Fed’s meeting as well as the release of the latest Philippine gross domestic product numbers.
Source: manilabulletin - 🏆 25. / 51 Read more »

IMF slashes US and China growth forecastsThe pandemic will continue to stoke uncertainty and inflation in its third year, undermining the global recovery from the coronavirus and pushing total economic losses toward $14 trillion.
Source: CNN Philippines - 🏆 13. / 63 Read more »

VOTT: DSWD's lasting commitment to quality service | Jan. 25, 2022VOTT: DSWD's lasting commitment to quality service | Jan. 25, 2022Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe Visit our website at htt...
Source: TheManilaTimes - 🏆 2. / 92 Read more »

IBM marks strong start to new chapter as cloud revenue boomsThe company has shifted its focus to 'hybrid-cloud' services where enterprises use a combination of their own data centers and leased computing resources.
Source: rapplerdotcom - 🏆 4. / 86 Read more »