By Leslie Venzon
PNA
The Philippine economy posted the second highest growth rate among the ASEAN 5 countries at 4.6 percent in the third quarter of 2008 from last year’s 7.1 percent, with the robust performance of the industry sector mainly spurring the overall growth.
In a press briefing, Socio-economic Planning Secretary Planning Ralph Recto said this is the first time that the industry sector, which grew 7.1 percent during the period, outperformed services.
Recto said key sub-industries exhibited resilience amid the impact of the slowing global economy, notably construction and manufacturing.
“The aggressive push of government in public construction as indicated by the 52.7 percent and 11.6 percent increases in national and local government spending on infrastructure and other outlays; and the sustained demand for real estate by the overseas Filipinos and BPO (business process outsourcing) sectors, both helped pushed total construction,†he stressed.
The services sector also remained strong growing by 3.7 percent and agriculture by 2.5 percent in the third quarter, he added.
Recto said the Philippines achieved modest growth in gross domestic product during the period even as its neighboring countries exhibited lower growth resulting from a global economic slowdown and high inflation and oil prices.
“The country managed to post the second highest growth rate among the ASEAN 5, next to Indonesia which registered 6.1 percent growth,†he said, “Singapore and Taiwan contracted by 0.6 percent and 1 percent, respectively, while Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and Hong Kong grew by 4.2 percent, 4 percent, 4 percent, and 1.7 percent, respectively.â€
Recto, also the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general, said supported by continually strong inflows of remittances from overseas Filipinos, the gross national product managed to rise by 6.5 percent in the third quarter.
He expressed optimism that growth momentum will be sustained with GDP rising by 4 to 4.6 percent in the fourth quarter, bringing overall growth to 4.6 percent for the whole year.
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Topic: Philippine Economy Update (Read 1895 times)