MEMBERS of the Makati Business Club (MBC) are taking a highly optimistic outlook on the Philippine, despite expectations of faster inflation and higher interest rates this year on top of a critical out on trade.
Majority of the senior business executives polled, or 83 percent, penciled in a higher or same level gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year from 6.8 percent in 2016. Only 17 percent said it would lower that 6.8 percent.
On consumer prices, 85 percent expects the country’s headline inflation to move at a faster pace than last year’s 1.8 percent average rate.