Manila, April 14 -- While some analysts anticipate a decline in Philippine exports due to the imposed tariffs by the United States, the country's top economist offered a different perspective.

In a press chat Monday, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said his office has done simulations on the impacts of the United States tariffs and it showed that the country could actually gain from the President Donald Trump's order.

Balisacan said two simulations were done.

First is that reciprocal tariffs, wherein the Philippines is slapped with 17 percent tariff rate, lower than its neighboring countries.

The NEDA chief said it could improve the gross domestic product (GDP) by less than 0.5 percent, w...