However, amid this resilience, the Philippine economy is being tested by external headwinds emanating from the recent and planned interest rate hikes by the US Fed and brewing trade tensions among key economies. These are exerting depreciation pressures on the peso. The country’s current account deficit and higher inflation also dampened investor sentiment during the quarter.
Indeed, as indicated in the exhibit, both the Federal Reserve staff projection and the CBO projection for the growth of the labor force through 2015 are lower than the  2  BIS Review 19/2007  growth of the population expected in that period by the Census Bureau.