The Philippines would fully recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2023, according to Security Bank chief economist Robert Dan Roces.
The Security Bank Corp. and ANZ Research said the Philippines is likely to fully recover from the impact of the pandemic in 2023 despite the projected “strong economic rebound this year and next.”
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Robert Dan Roces said the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) may expand by 5.1 percent this year and 6.5 percent next year. It had contracted by 9.6 percent last year due to the impact of the global health crisis.
The projected GDP growth next year is strong, Roces said. He added that the country could return to pre-pandemic levels only in 2023.
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Roces said, “As early as next year, we could be there but we can’t really characterize it as the return to pre-pandemic level already.”
He said the nominal “figures would mean that it is higher than the pre-pandemic, but it is not yet the return to the quarterly output being expected.” (AW)