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Q1 growth higher than 3.7% - NEDA

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MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine economy in the first quarter of the year likely grew faster than the 3.7 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of last year, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga Jr. said.

In an interview, he said there is also a chance that first quarter growth could beat the 4.6 percent recorded in the same period last year as some indicators point out.

He said the government has successfully accelerated spending particularly on infrastructure project from last year’s spending level.

“Infrastructure spending is all over. Business optimism is high and investor confidence has improved,” Paderanga told The STAR.

He said that he is quite hopeful that growth in the first three months of the year would beat gross domestic product growth in the fourth quarter of last year.

At the same time, Paderanga conceded that year-ago figures are “on the high side.”

State spending improved to P250.8 billion in the first two months of the year, 12 percent higher than comparable disbursements in 2011.

Paderanga said this is a clear indication that economic activities improved in the first quarter of 2012.

Last year, the Philippine economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), grew by 3.7 percent which was way below the official forecast range of 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent for last year and less than half of the 2010 growth of 7.6 percent.

The Aquino administration’s under-spending has been blamed for the lackluster economic growth.

As such, the government approved last year a P72-billion Disbursement Acceleration Package, or what it calls a stimulus program but is actually the amount of disbursements it has earlier programmed.

For 2012, Paderanga said the economy is expected to hit the 5 percent to 6 percent target.

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