March 23, 2008
Updated 18:35:31 (Mla time)
Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines--American investment banking giant Lehman Brothers foresees the peso rising to 39.10 to a dollar by year's end before surging to 36.70 in 2009 but warned that remittances from overseas Filipinos could be a "double-edged" sword in this period of US-led global slowdown.
Lehman expects Philippine domestic economic growth to slow down to 5 percent this year given a less favorable global environment but sees the country resuming a robust growth of 7 percent in 2009.
"The rise in overseas worker remittances to $14.4 billion in 2007 buoyed domestic demand, lifting real GDP (gross domestic product) growth to 7.3 percent--a three-decade high," Lehman said in a global economic report dated March 14. "However, with 52 percent of the remittances sourced from the US, a deep recession there could weaken remittance inflows in 2008 and hurt consumption spending."
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