Philippines GDP Expanding

The quality of economic growth in the Philippines is “improving” and will be sustained on the back of the government’s P8-trillion ($150 billion) infrastructure program, officials said Friday.

The 6.8% expansion in the gross domestic product in the second quarter is second only to India and Vietnam and at par with China, socioeconomic planning secretary, Ernesto Pernia, said, ABS/CBN reported.

It also marked the tenth consecutive quarter for GDP growth to come in at 6.5% or higher, he said at an economic forum three weeks before President Rodrigo Duterte’s third State of the Nation address.

The economy is undergoing “structural reform” with investments and consumption rising and with the resurgence of manufacturing. Pernia said.

The 20% increase in manufacturing volume last May was “especially noteworthy,” he said. “This means the quality of economic growth is improving, which implies it is sustainable,” he said.

“The massive infrastructure program, ‘Build, Build Build’, should contribute to growth in the following quarters or years,” The spike in consumer prices is “temporary,” Pernia said.

Finance secretary, Carlos Dominguez, said the economy was “on course” towards “inclusive development.”

Meanwhile, Philippine annual inflation rate picked up faster than expected in June to the highest in more than five years due to costlier food and non-alcoholic beverages, according to data released on Thursday, raising chances of a third interest rate hike this year.

The consumer price index stood at 5.2% in June, above the 4.8% forecast in a Reuters poll of economists, bringing the average inflation rate to 4.3% in the first half of the year.