Philippine economic growth (Source: philstar)Hanoi (VNA) – The Philippine economy grew by 6.9 percent in the third quarter of 2017, making it the second fastest-growing economy in Asia.
The year-on-year growth rate, which was above the 6.5 percent forecast in a Reuters poll and outpaced China’s 6.8 percent increase in the same period, was driven by strong industrial and services output.
However, the quarter-on-quarter growth of 1.3 percent was below the 1.6 percent forecast in the Reuters poll and weaker than the previous quarter’s upwardly revised 2.0 percent.
Socio-economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said he was optimistic about the possibility of achieving the Government’s 6.5-7.5 percent growth target for 2017 thanks to higher state spending and improving exports and farm output.
Among the country’s key sectors, industry recorded the highest growth rate of 7.5 percent, followed by services with 7.1 percent. However, the agricultural sector only rose by 2.5 percent, lower than the 3 percent of the second quarter.-VNA
VNA
