Fitch lowers growth forecast for PH to 5.9%home/Business/Top Business/Fitch lowers growth forecast for PH to 5.9%Sun Life maintains economic growth outlook at 6.4%FITCH Solutions has trimmed its 2019 Philippine economic growth forecast to 5.9 percent, citing the lower-than-expected gross domestic product (GDP) expansion in the first three months of the year, trade tensions and soft external demand as reasons behind the adjustment. “While we expect a pickup in real GDP growth from first quarter onward, we at Fitch Solutions have lowered our real GDP growth forecast [and expect] a more gradual recovery from the first quarter 2019 dip,” the Fitch Ratings unit said in a report released on Wednesday. Philippine economic growth slowed to 5.6 percent for January to March, which was mainly blamed on reduced government spending because of the delay in the approval of this year’s budget, which came in mid-April. Fitch Solutions said that, while it was upbeat on domestic consumption, it revised downward the net export component of the GDP from -0.7 to -1.7 percentage point. “Despite the weak first-quarter 2019 GDP, we still are seeing 2019 growth at 6.4 percent,” Sun Life Chief Investments Officer Michael Enriquez said in a briefing in Makati City.

Source: Manila Times May 22, 2019 17:03 UTC