Manila: The Philippine economy grew 6.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2017, boosted by government spending, a recovery in agriculture and strong industry, the government said on Thursday.
Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in April to June was down from 7.1 per cent in the same period last year, which was boosted by election spending, but up from 6.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2017.
Industry recorded the fastest growth in the second quarter at 7.3 per cent from 6.9 per cent the previous year, while agriculture recovered to 6.3 per cent from a 2 per cent decline in the previous year, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.
Growth in the services sector slowed down to 6.1 per cent, from 8.2 per cent in the same period in 2016, the agency added. “With our country growing at 6.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2017, I am pleased to inform you that we remain as one of the best-performing economies in Asia,” Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said.
“We are well on track to meeting our full-year target growth of 6.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent,” he added.
Pernia said the Philippines was either the second or third fastest growing Asian economy, next only to China, where growth was 6.9 per cent in the second quarter.
Vietnam reported 6.2 per cent growth and Indonesia 5 per cent in the same period. Malaysia and Thailand have not yet released their data,but they were not expected to be higher than the Philippine performance, Pernia said. Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the administration was determined to maintain the momentum to ensure that more Filipinos benefit from a strong economy. — dpa
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