World Bank retains modest growth outlook for PHL

The World Bank has retained its forecast for a moderate growth for the Philippines this year and the next, according to the latest report released Wednesday by the Washington-based lender. According to its June 2011 Global Economic Prospects, the Philippine gross domestic product will grow five percent this year and 5.4 percent in 2012 and will continue to find support from remittances from Filipinos working overseas. The forecast was the same growth that the World Bank estimated in its Philippine Quarterly Update released in February this year. However, the slowdown in the global growth and high unemployment in the country will temper the benefits from higher remittances and healthy private consumption. "Despite the remarkable growth turnaround [in 2010], domestic unemployment remains structurally high, and there have been some (though inadequate) trickle-down benefits to the poor, with the depth of poverty and income distributions improving between 2006 and 2009," the report said. Meanwhile, the Bank also urged developing countries to focus on achieving balanced growth by coping with inflationary pressures and dealing with high commodity prices. The Bank said, as a group, developing countries will post a growth of 6.3 percent each year from 2011 to 2013, lower than the 7.3-percent expansion in 2010. "Globally, GDP is expected to grow 3.2 percent in 2011 before edging up to 3.6 percent in 2010, said Justin Yifu Lin, the Bank's chief economist and senior vice president for development economics. "But further increases in already high oil and food prices could significantly curb economic growth and hurt the poor." -- CMA/OMG, GMA News