MANILA, Philippines—Global banking giant HSBC sees the prolonged quarantine in the Philippines as a drag to economic growth in 2021 and could be aggravated by slow vaccination and high consumer prices.
HSBC’s chief Asean economist Joseph Incalcaterra told a press briefing on Tuesday (March 6) that he expected the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) to grow 6.3 percent in 2021. HSBC’s forecast was below the government’s 6.5-7.5 percent growth target for 2021.
“We know from the experience of COVID-19 that when we have the type of lockdown measures which were recently imposed in large parts of the Philippines, it has a very clear negative impact on growth,”…
Keep on reading: HSBC: Without quicker mass vaccination, PH economic outlook is dim