ADB reviewing Philippines growth forecast

MANILA, Philippines — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is reviewing its growth outlook for the Philippines following the slower third quarter economic growth performance.

“We’re assessing all the new information and data,” ADB Philippines country director Andrew Jeffries told reporters on the sidelines of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Business and Investment Summit.

He said that ADB’s growth projections would be released on Dec. 7.

Philippine economic growth slowed to 2.1 percent in the third quarter, the weakest since the first quarter of 2021.

This brought the average economic growth in the first three quarters to 2.5 percent, below the government’s 3.5 to 4.5 percent growth target.

Last September, the ADB lowered its growth projections for the Philippines for 2026 and 2027 citing the prolonged impact of the Middle East crisis.

In particular, the ADB’s Asian Development Outlook report released in September showed that the Philippine growth forecast was lowered to 3.3 percent this year from its previous forecast of 3.8 percent.

The forecast is also below the government’s growth goal for this year.

For 2027, the ADB also trimmed its growth forecast for the Philippines to 5.1 percent from 5.3 percent, previously.

This forecast is within the government’s five to six percent growth target for next year.