Philippines: Economy likely grew 7% in Q1

• May 17, 2017

MANILA, Philippines – The economy likely grew by about seven percent in the first quarter on the back of strong performance of the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, according to Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran.

“At first, my forecast was 6.2 percent to 7.4 percent. But now, it turns out that agriculture’s growth was high,” Beltran said, referring to GDP growth.

“It could be higher than seven percent…might be seven percent, conservatively,” he said.

According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the country’s farm sector recovered in the first three months, growing 5.28 percent.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol attributed this rebound to the favorable weather conditions during the period, which benefited the farming sector.

On top of the development in the agriculture sector, Beltran also cited the robust growth in the country’s manufacturing output during the first quarter.

Earlier, the PSA reported in its Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISS) that the sector’s Volume of Production Index (VoPI) increased by 11.1 percent in March.

The Value of Production Index (VaPI), meanwhile, grew 12.2 percent during the same month.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said these increments were due to the  higher production in petroleum products, food and transport equipment in March.

According to Beltran, the government remains committed in retaining the country’s healthy fundamentals to sustain the economy’s growth momentum.

“We are putting the fundamentals in good shape to get that seven percent growth-make sure that you are meeting the targeted deficit, make sure than inflation rate is within the targeted level of two to four percent,” Beltran said.

 “If you maintain those solid fundamentals, growth will be as high as you can imagine,” he added.

 In 2016, the Philippines’ GDP grew 6.9 percent, making it one of the fastest growing economies in the region.

 For this year, the government is targeting an economic expansion rate of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent.

Source: http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/05/17/1700566/economy-likely-grew-7-q1