The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday cut its 2009 growth forecast for the region's developing economies to 7.6 percent, citing tighter credit and soaring food and energy costs.

The bank trimmed its previous growth forecast from April of 7.8 percent, and said actual growth could be lower if either inflation or the US economic slowdown were worse than expected.

It maintained the 2008 growth forecast for the region at 7.6 percent, with China set to dip below five years of double-digit growth to 9.9 percent in 2008 and 9.7 percent next year.

A top official of local oil giant, Petron Corp., said on Tuesday that the oil firm is welcoming a solon’s call for the government to conduct an audit of the finances of the three local major oil players to find out if they have earned excessive profits from the high cost of crude oil in the world market.

Petron spokeswoman Virginia Ruivivar said the Commission on Audit can scrutinize the company’s financial records "if they so desired."

"Yes, they can investigate. In fact, we're a listed company. Our financial records are with the SEC [Securities and Exchange], PSE [Philippine Stock Exchange]. There’s really no reason why they should not conduct an investigation or an audit if they so desired; if it will satisfy them that in fact we are not earning unreasonable returns," Ruivivar told ANC’s "News at 8."