The headquarters of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Philippines central bank (Photo: Reuters) Manila (VNA) - The Philippine central bank said on June 18 that it forecast wider current account surpluses in 2021 and next year thanks to better prospects for trade in goods and services as the global economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bank raised its 2021 projection for the currentaccount surplus to 10 billion USD, or 2.5 percent of gross domestic product(GDP), from its previous forecast of 9.1 billion USD, or 2.3 percent of GDP, Reuters reported.
Zeno Abenoja, the central bank's managing director, said at a press briefing that thecurrent account surplus for next year was expected to reach 6.7 billion USD, equivalent to1.5 percent of GDP, also wider than the earlier estimate of 5.2 billion USD in2022.
An improving global economy will drive 10 percentgrowth in exports of goods and services, higher than the 8 percent estimation in Marchand then 6 percent growth in 2022, the official said.
The central bank predicted that imports of goodsthis year and next year would grow 12 percent and 10 percent, respectively, as domesticdemand recovers in line with a gradual reopening of the economy, which shouldallow for more business activity./.
