MANILA, June 11 (Reuters) - The Philippine central bank has
lowered its current account deficit projection for this year to
reflect contractions in exports and imports, as the global
economy reels from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
This year's current account deficit will likely reach $1.9
billion, or 0.5% of gross domestic product, the central bank
said, narrower than its earlier estimate of $8.4 billion. Next
year's current account gap is seen to widen to $4.4 billion or
1.1% of GDP.
Imports are expected to decline 5.5% this year, outpacing
the expected 4% drop in exports.
Remittances, a key driver of economic growth, are forecast
to decline 5% this year to $28.6 billion from last year's record
$30.7 billion.