PH economy Q3 growth faster

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MANILA – The local economy’s growth for the third quarter this year could have grown faster, but not enough for the country to exceed the 2014 targets due to external stocks, said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan on Tuesday.

At the sidelines of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc.’s 13th CEO Forum, Balisacan said that there is a possibility that the local economy’s growth from July to September will be faster than the previous quarter.

Last Monday, First Metro Investments Corp. (FMIC) said that the monthly market call report accelerated in the third quarter with gross domestic product (GDP) by 6.5-6 percent.

Despite this, FMIC said that the 2014 growth may fall short of the government’s goal.

Meanwhile, Balisacan noted that the 6.5-7.5 percent may still be attained provided that the economy expands by at least 6.9 percent in the remaining months of the year.

“Achieving the lower end of the [target] range is still a possibility, but the upper end is now a huge challenge,” Balisacan said.

The performance of the local economy in the second half is anticipated to be better, but external shocks may affect the prospects.

“But as shown in recent years, although some regions of the world had been shaky, the Philippine economy remained quite stable. So I suppose the impact [of external risks] wouldn’t be as great compared with our neighbors that have greater exposure,” Balisacan said.

On the domestic side, he said that the trade and manufacturing sectors remain optimistic, while personal consumption and demand and investments are on the rise.

Recent data showed that exports upped by 9.2 percent year on year to $40.748 as of end August, while import increased by 4 percent to $42.446 billion.