MANILA - The Philippine economic growth is seen to gain pace in the next few years due to rising domestic investment and consumption, among others, the Asian Development Bank said Wednesday.

The gross domestic product (GDP) could grow by 6 percent in 2022 and 6.3 percent next year, the ADB said in its recent Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2022.

Philippine economic managers have set a target of 6 to 7 percent growth for 2022.

The projected expansion could be attributed to the easing of restrictions that allowed for more business activities, the country's COVID-19 vaccination program and relaxed international travel restrictions.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat earlier announced that the country would allow entry of vaccinated international tourists this month.

“Nearly all indicators point to higher growth for the Philippines this year and in 2023, barring the impact of external factors from geopolitical tensions that may dampen growth globally, including in the country’s key export markets Europe and the United States,” said ADB Philippines Country Director Kelly Bird.

Metro Manila and other areas shifted to Alert Level 1 in March.

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Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said the goal is to shift most areas in the country to Alert Level 1 to boost economic activities.

Chua earlier said if the entire country eases to Alert Level 1, it would translate to P16.5 billion per week of economic activity, P5.2 billion more in salaries and 297,000 less unemployed.

Increased public investment in large infrastructure projects will continue to boost growth, the Manila-based multilateral lender said.

The ADB said recent rules which sought to ease foreign equity ownership and the lowering of minimum paid-up capital of foreign retailers would also support growth.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed the amended Public Service Act, to complement the first two key economic measures, namely the amended Retail Trade Liberalization Act and the Foreign Investment Act.

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Meanwhile, the ADB projected inflation to rise to 4.2 percent in 2022 due to the higher global oil and commodity prices brought about by the tension between Russia and Ukraine.

The forecast is slightly lower than the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' 2022 projection which was at 4.3 percent for the year.

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