THE Philippine economy is seen as coming in strong for 2024, an economic analyst said.

But the strong labor market which will lift the Philippine economy in 2024 is being threatened by inflation.

Aris Dacanay, HSBC Global Research's ASEAN Economist, said that the country is expected to post the second fastest growth rate in ASEAN.

This is as the jobless rate has fallen, even as the labor force participation rate grew, pointing to the strength of country's labor market. 

"We're pretty confident that the Filipino citizens will lift the Philippine economy up throughout the year," Dacanay said in an interview over the ABS-CBN News Channel.

And with inflation easing, he expects the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to cut rates this year.

However, contrary to the forecast of Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno for the BSP to cut rates by 100 basis points this year, Dacanay said that a more realistic approach is that the central bank will limit this to just 75 bps.

He explained that the BSP needs to keep pace with the US Federal Reserve to protect the peso from volatility. 

The Philippine Statistics Authority recently noted that rice inflation has been quickening.