(Eagle News)—The Palace on Thursday, May 9, said the future “looks bright” for the Philippines despite the country’s Gross Domestic Product growth slowdown in the first quarter of 2019.
In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the 5.6 percent Gross Domestic Product growth, a four-year low, was caused by the budget impasse which “has now been resolved.”
He added the slowdown was also due to a “nearly flat agriculture output posting 0.8 percent, which contributes about a tenth to GDP, as a result of the adverse effects of the El Niño phenomenon.”
According to Panelo, “soaring inflation” has also been “decisively addressed,” with higher growth expected “in the next few quarters as the Build Build Build Infrastructure Program starts to gather steam and domestic consumption, as a result of deflation, starts to pick up.”
“And the Palace therefore remains confident that we will still reach our full-year 2019 economic target of 6 to 7%,” he said.
“The economic momentum is on our side. The future looks bright despite the prophets of doom and the negative forces that try to mislead our countrymen into believing an opposite outlook, who however refuse to bite,” he added.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the 5.6 percent growth was slower than the 6.5 percent growth recorded in the first quarter of 2018.
The PSA said trade and repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles, personal and household goods; manufacturing; and financial intermediation were the main drivers of growth for the quarter.
Services, the PSA said, had the fastest growth, at 7 percent, followed by industry, at 4.4 percent.
“Agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing had a growth of 0.8 percent,” the PSA said.
