Hanoi (VNA) – The Philippine economy will sustain its expansion in 2018 and 2019,with the main driving force being the infrastructure facility developmentprogramme as well as taxation reform policy launched by President RodrigoDuterte.
According to thereport of the ASEAN 3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) on March 16, the Philippine economy may grow by 6.8percent in 2018 from 6.7 percent in the previous year, before expanding to 6.9percent next year thanks to surging exports and gradual improvements on budgetexecution.
The country kept theinflation rate at 3.2 percent in 2017, however, it reached 4 percent in theearly period of 2018 and is expected to grow slightly in the year, due toimpacts of increases in taxation, crude oil price, and domestic currency value.
However, the inflationrate is forecast to drop to 3 percent as set by the Government in 2019,according to the report.
AMRO, based inSingapore, has the responsibility for giving reports on policy assistance toensure the economic-financial stability of ASEAN members and three partners,namely China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.-VNA
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