(BusinessMirror) ELEVATED inflation and high interest rates will not dampen the country’s performance in the first quarter, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

On Wednesday, BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla told reporters that GDP growth may be around 6 percent in the January to March 2023 period. This is lower than the 8 percent posted in the same period last year.

“It will still be in the neighborhood of 6 [percent], lower than last year but not too much,” Medalla said. “Well, we never know, right? [My] experience with GDP is [it’s hard to] forecast. In fact, inflation is sometimes hard to forecast,” he added, in a mix of English and Filipino.