PHL 'growth has gained momentum' — NEDA's Balisacan

Infrastructure spending and the strong private sector participation will support Philippine economic growth this year, the country’s top economic manager said Tuesday.

 

“I don’t see a slowdown this year, growth has gained momentum,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan told reporters at the sidelines of the Philippine Business for Social Progress annual forum in Makati City. 

 

The Aquino administration’s flagship public-private program (PPP) is “expected… to gain traction in the second half of the year,” Balisacan noted.

 

“The private sector is also very much bullish,” he added. 

 

The Socioeconomic Planning chief saw “... growth for the whole 2012 settling a little over 6.5 percent,” a projection he unveiled in December. 

 

Output as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) should be “around 7 percent in the fourth quarter. You can make calculations... I see that it’s should be around that,” he said. 

 

The Philippines posted a stronger-than-expected 7.1 percent GDP in the third quarter of last year –  the fast in Asia after China – pushing the economy to grow 6.5 percent in the first three quarters.

 

The policy-setting Development Budget Coordination Committee targets a 6 percent to 7 percent growth this year and 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent in 2014. — VS, GMA News