MANILA, Philippines - The economy likely improved in the third quarter of the year from the 3.4-percent expansion recorded in the second quarter, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga Jr. said yesterday.
Paderanga said full-year growth may still hit 4.5 percent, the lower end of the 4.5-percent to 5.5-percent official growth forecast range for 2011.
He said the government’s move to boost spending in the remaining months of the year has been paying off. Dollar remittances from overseas Filipinos also continue to pour in, Paderanga said.
“Third quarter (growth) is better than in the second quarter,” Paderanga told reporters on the sidelines of a budget hearing at the Senate yesterday.
According to the Department of Budget and Management, the government has already released P43.4 billion or 60.22 percent of its P72.11 billion acceleration program.
“The 4.5 percent (gross domestic product growth) is still achievable….The way the trend has been going once you put it all together, we’re still hopeful, we’ll get to the area,” Paderanga said.
The government has been largely blamed for the 3.4-percent GDP growth in the third quarter of the year.
The 3.4-percent growth was much slower compared to the 8.9 percent recorded in the same period last year.
Government statisticians attributed the slower-than-expected growth to under spending by the government, sluggish foreign trade and the yet-to-be-fulfilled promises of the public-private partnership (PPP) program.
GDP is the sum of all goods and services produced in an economy.
To achieve the lower end of the government’s aspirational target of seven percent to eigh percent for the year, the economy must grow by at least 9.9 percent in the second half of the year, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) earlier said.
Despite the slower-than-projected growth in the second quarter of the year, officials said the economy still fared better during that period compared to some of its neighbors such as Thailand’s 2.6 percent and Singapore’s 0.9 percent.