PSA adjusts 2016 GDP growth to 6.9% from 6.8%

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine economy grew a little bit faster than initially estimated last year at 6.9 percent from 6.8 percent, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday.

 

"The annual growth rate... for 2016 was revised upward at 6.9 percent. The major contributors for the upward revision in 2016 were construction, mining and quarrying, and other services," PSA said in a statement on its website.

 

For the fourth quarter, growth, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), was kept at 6.6 percent.

 

 

The PSA revises GDP figures according to international best practice and to reflect additional data that otherwise may not have been available when the first estimates were reported.

 

Last year's GDP figures were first reported in January.

 

With the revision, the actual growth was now just a tad lower than the official 6 to 7 percent government target last year. The Duterte administration lowered the goals from 6.8 to 7.8 percent when it took over on June 30.

 

For 2017, the government is targeting economic expansion between 6.5 and 7.5 percent.

 

In a briefing in Cebu, Karby Leggett, Asia head of public sector development at Standard Chartered, said the country continues to benefit from "very strong growth."

 

 

The briefing was held on the sidelines of the finance ministers and central bank governors of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations being hosted by the Philippines this year.

 

"We see slight widening in fiscal deficit as a way to accommodate more infrastructure spending, which is actually viewed as a positive by credit rating agencies," Leggett said.