AMRO maintains forecasts for 2018, 2019 but warns of risks Philippine economic growth is expected to pick up this year and the next but a trade war between the United States and China could pose downside risks, a regional surveillance unit created under the Chiang Mai Initiative said.

The Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), which on Thursday released its “Regional Economic Outlook 2018” in one of the side events of the Asian Development Bank’s annual board of governors meeting in Manila, also warned that the Philippines was already in the late stage of the business cycle – a condition that it claimed warranted monetary policy action.