The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday lowered the country’s economic growth forecast for the 2026-27 fiscal year to 4.5% from its previous estimate of 4.7%.
The ADB forecast, revealed in a report, is significantly lower than the government target of 6.5% growth for the July 2026-June 2027 fiscal year.
The continued weakening in economic output can be attributed to persistent inflationary pressures, banking sector crisis, subdued business investment and the worsening external outlook, which has hiked energy prices, the Manila-based multilateral lender said.
The ADB has also cut the estimate for the previous fiscal year, which ended on 30 June, to 3.7% from the earlier forecast of 4%. The new estimate for the 2025-26 fiscal year is also lower than the 4.14% provisional forecast made by BBS.
