Screen Shot 2021-05-27 at 3.14.47 PM
Michael Gerard D. Enriquez, Sun Life Asset Management chief investment officer said the first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) performance was “disappointing” as it contracted way below consensus.
The local economy sunk deeper into recession in January to March at minus 4.2 percent, worse than the consensus -3.2 percent and Sun Life Asset Management’s estimate -2.0 percent.
Enriquez said the worse than expected GDP was due to continued contraction in household spending at -4.8 percent as well as the private investments, falling -18 percent.
“This only suggests that the confidence in the economy on personal spending, mobility and forward capital deployment is still at the clutches of fear towards the pandemic,” Enriquez said in a virtual briefing.
Published December 17, 2020, 10:13 AM
Michael Gerard “Mike” Enriquez
Sun Life Philippines expects the Philippine economy to undergo a “U-shaped,” a longer type of recovery and a return to trend line growth in the next two years.
Michael Gerard D. Enriquez, Sun Life chief investments officer, said the country’s economy, as measured by its gross domestic product (GDP), may grow by 4.0 percent to 5.0 percent in 2021, a reversal of projected 8.0 percent contraction this year.
Enriquez said the economic decline in the final three-months of the year could be softer than in the previous quarter at 5.7 percent.
Sun Life’s 2020 economic projection is better than the government’s outlook of -8.5 percent to -9.5 percent, but below the Duterte administration’s target of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent growth in 2021.
BusinessWorld
December 10, 2020 | 7:44 pm
THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) could still resort to another policy rate cut early next year to further support the recovery, with the stock market seen benefiting the most from the low interest rate environment, according to Sun Life Asset Management Co., Inc.
In a briefing Thursday, Sun Life Asset Management Chief Investment Officer Michael Gerard D. Enriquez said the Monetary Board could decide to ease by another 25 basis points (bps) in the first quarter of 2021.
The BSP has reduced rates by 200 bps so far this year, bringing policy rates to record lows.
The projected cut will help the economy sustain its rebound to growth of 6-7% by 2022 following a prolonged effort to contain the coronavirus, it said.