And now were talking…
The Philippine economy grew 6.9 percent in the July to
September period beating the government set targets , beating government set
expectations.
The 6.9 percent, makes the country, Asia’s second-fastest
growing economy in Asia – next only to Vietnam, in the 3rd quarter of this year
of 2017 according to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said.
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| (photo credit to owner) |
"That's spectacular growth after an election year," Pernia said.
The third quarter growth compared to the 6.7 percent expansion in the second quarter and 7.1 percent during the same period in 2016.
The median forecast of a Bloomberg poll predicted third quarter GDP growth at 6.5 percent, while a Reuters survey placed it at 6.5 percent.
Pernia said the economy was on track to meet its full year growth target of 6.5 to 7.5 percent.
"We attribute the country's growth performance to sustained growth in exports," Pernia said, adding net exports grew "very fast" during the third quarter.
Government's plan to build new roads, railways and airports will "ratchet up" public spending, he said.
"We are now seeing a sustained improvement in government spending in the run-up to our massive infrastructure program, build build build which will continually unfold in the months ahead," he said.
Pernia expects construction activities and public spending making a headway in line with the government’s aim to spend 5.3 percent of GDP this year for infrastructure and up to 7.4 percent by 2022.
Pernia, also National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General, said a weak peso benefited exports and remittances.
“It (weak peso) could be one of the main factors that affected exports, including the performance of the world economy as a whole. Our export markets’ performance has been better than expected,” he noted.
The Philippine Statistics Office (PSA) reported that the services sector was the largest contributor to the economic growth in the third quarter with a share of 4.2 percent, followed by industry at 2.5 percent and agriculture, 0.2 percent.
The industry sector, however, recorded the fastest growth of 7.5 percent followed by services with 7.1-percent growth. Agriculture slowed down by 2.5 percent from 3.0-percent in the previous year.
“There were some weather disturbances that occurred (in the third quarter) and it was mostly also accounted for by poor corn production. (The decline was) not agriculture as a whole but the corn item. Fishing and corn were the ones that went down,” he added.
Pernia is optimistic that fourth-quarter GDP will likely be higher or match the third-quarter economic performance.
“We expect a pick-up in household consumption in the last quarter of the year due to the holiday season,” he said. “So, imagine if both public and private spending are both on a roll. We are likely to see the economy steadily going on an upward trajectory.”
Report from ABSCBN and PNA
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