World Bank: Phl to grow above 6% in 3 years

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is projected to grow above 6 percent from 2013 to 2015 as the world turns to developing countries in leading global economic growth, a report published by the World Bank noted.

The multilateral financial institution, in its Global Economic Prospects report, expects the Philippines to grow by 6.2 percent this year, 6.4 percent in 2014 and 6.2 percent in 2015.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said developing countries which include the Philippines need to focus on raising their growth potentials while high-income countries recover from the global economic meltdown.

"Developing countries have remained remarkably resilient thus far. But we can't wait for a return to growth in the high-income countries, so we have to continue to support developing countries in making investments in infrastructure, in health, in education. This will set the stage for the stronger growth that we know that they can achieve in the future,” he said.

The report added that growth in East Asia and the Pacific region (excluding China) is expected to accelerate to 5.8 percent in 2013 and 5.9 percent in the next two years.

"Excluding China, growth in the region has been resilient to the global slowdown and accelerated to 5.6 percent 2012, up from 4.5 percent in 2011 thanks to strong domestic demand, which in major ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) economies (notably Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines) was effectively supported through countercyclical measures," it said.

The World Bank said it estimates global gross domestic product grew by 2.3 percent in 2012, lower than last June’s forecast of 2.5 percent.

"Growth is expected to remain broadly unchanged at 2.4 percent growth in 2013, before gradually strengthening to 3.1 percent in 2014 and 3.3 percent in 2015," the bank said.