Weak government spending and sluggish exports in the Philippines likely slowed economic growth in the third quarter from the previous three months, but the country remains on course to be one of Asia’s fastest growing economies this year. Seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter growth may have slightly eased to 1.5% in July-September, a Reuters poll showed, from 1.8% in the second quarter, but the forecast is sharply higher than the first quarter’s 0.4% growth. “The persistent slowdown in government spending remains the main dampener on growth. In fact, third quarter public spending is even lower than that of second quarter,” said Eugenia Victorino, economist at Australia New Zealand Bank in Singapore.
