Philippine Economic Managers Slash 2021 GDP Growth Target to 4-5%

Philippine economic managers have revised the country's GDP growth target for 2021 down to 4% to 5%, citing the reimposition of stricter mobility restrictions due to the Delta variant of COVID-19.

The inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) made this revision, noting that without these measures, the original target of 6% to 7% growth would have been achievable.

Economic managers emphasize a strategy of granular quarantines and accelerating vaccine rollouts to manage risks carefully while allowing most people to work.

As of August 15, over 27.8 million doses have been administered, with the highest single-day inoculation recorded on August 5 at 710,482 doses.

The goal is to vaccinate enough individuals by the end of 2021 to significantly reduce the need for wide-scale quarantines in key economic centers.