‘Economy likely grew by a robust 6% in...

than the 7.1 percent in the fourth quarter and eight percent in the first quarter last year, but faster than the market expectation of 6.1 percent.

Amid the external headwinds brought about by elevated inflation and the aggressive rate hikes delivered by global central banks led by the US Federal Reserve, the Cabinetlevel Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) decided to maintain this year’s GDP growth target at six to seven percent.

The country’s GDP expansion accelerated to 7.6 percent last year from 5.7 percent in 2021 with the full reopening of the economy as the strict COVID quarantine and lockdown protocols were lifted.

The country slipped into recession in 2020 with the GDP shrinking by 9.5 percent as the economy stalled due to strict mobility restrictions imposed by the government to slow the spread of COVID-19 infections.

“Our own forecast is the GDP growth will be above six percent this year. Of course, it’s hard to grow when your base is larger,” Medalla told participants of the economic forum.

For the first quarter, he said spending in hotels and restaurants jumped by 23.8 percent in the first quarter, while car sales zoomed by 44.8 percent from January to May this year.

Likewise, tourism-related revenues amounted to P214 billion in the first quarter as the number of international tourists reached 1.47 million from January to April this year.

He added that there is also revenge spending by Filipino consumers.

“Pent-up demand has been a key growth u PAGE 4