ZCZC
BCN-41
PHILIPPINE-ECONOMY
Philippine economy slows to 6.0 pct in Q2
MANILA, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) — The Philippine economy slowed in the second
quarter to 6.0 percent from the 6.6 percent recorded in the first quarter,
the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Thursday.
Undersecretary Lisa Grace Bersales, the PSA’s national statistician and
civil registrar general, told a news conference that manufacturing, trade,
and construction were the main drivers of growth for the quarter.
Among the major economic sectors, Bersales said services recorded the
fastest growth at 6.6 percent. Industry followed with a growth of 6.3
percent, and agriculture with a growth of 0.2 percent.
“This growth rate is less than what we had hoped for,” Socioeconomic
Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said in a news conference.
However, he added that the 6.0 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth
“still puts the the Philippines as one of the best-performing economies in
Asia, just after Vietnam at 6.8 percent growth and China at 6.7 percent
growth, and ahead of Indonesia’s 5.3 percent.”
Given the 6.0 percent GDP growth and the downward revision of the first
quarter GDP to 6.6 percent, the Philippines’ GDP growth for the first six
months of the year is at 6.3 percent.
“This implies that the Philippine economy would have to expand by at least
7.7 percent in the second semester to attain the low-end of the 7.0 to 8.0
percent for 2018,” Pernia said, referring to the government’s growth target
for 2018.
Pernia attributed the slower growth in part to the policy decisions
undertaken by the Duterte administration like the temporary closure of the
world-famous Boracay Island resort, the closure of several mining pits and
the stricter enforcement of regulations on aquaculture producers.
Pernia said the temporary closure of Boracay Island from April to October
this year partly made a dent on the economy with growth in exports of
services slowing to 9.6 percent in the second quarter from 16.4 percent in
first quarter.
He said the closure of several mining pits and the excise tax on non-
metallic and metallic minerals led to the “lackluster performance” of the
mining and quarrying sector. “It is down by 10.9 percent,” he added.
Moreover, he said the stricter enforcement of regulations on aquaculture
producers at Laguna Lake resulted in the drop of freshwater fish catch.
Laguna Lake is the largest lake located east of Metro Manila.
The PSA revised on Wednesday its first quarter GDP to 6.6 percent from 6.8
percent, citing major contributors to the downward revision were “other
services, manufacturing, and agriculture and forestry.”
BSS/XINHUA/HR/1448