The Philippine economy grew 6.3 percent in the year through the third quarter, stronger than forecast, prompting the government to raise its full-year target to at least 6 percent. The government said on Monday it revised the previous 2004 growth target of 4.9 to 5.8 percent as robust agricultural output offset weakness in the industrial sector.
Gross domestic product grew 4.5 percent last year. The government also revised GDP growth in the second quarter to 6.6 percent from the previous 6.2 percent.
"It will take a big decline in the growth rate to go below 6 percent," Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri told a news conference, referring to the full year. "Notwithstanding rising inflation and interest rates due to high oil prices, and amid concerns of fiscal problems, the economy has been quite resilient."
Neri said the economy would grow at a "more subdued pace" in the fourth quarter.
The third-quarter GDP growth was better than the median forecast of 5.6 percent in a Reuters poll of 10 economists. A separate Reuters poll earlier this month forecast a 5.5 percent rise in GDP for the full year.
GDP expanded 6.5 percent in the first nine months from a year earlier. It grew a seasonally adjusted 1.4 percent in the third quarter from the previous three months, faster than the 0.7 percent in April to June from the first quarter.
Comments
Comments are closed.