Government scales down Q3 growth to 6%

MANILA, Philippines — The government has revised downward the economic output growth in the third quarter of 2019, further weakening the prospect of  hitting even the lower end of the official growth target for the year.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said yesterday that gross domestic product (GDP) growth was scaled down to six percent in the third quarter from the previous figure of 6.2 percent.

The PSA said it makes changes to GDP estimates based on an approved revision policy. 

It said major contributors to the revision were the downward estimates in the output growth for other services from 5.1 percent to 4.2 percent; construction, from 16.3 percent to 15.4 percent; and transport, storage and communication, from 9.1 percent to 8.2 percent. 

Even with the downward revision, this was still faster compared with the retained 5.5 percent GDP growth in the second quarter of 2019 and matches the six percent expansion in the same quarter in 2018. 

The government has attributed the GDP acceleration to stronger government spending and household consumption,

and the recovery in the agriculture sector during the period.

With the downgrade, it would be unlikely to hit the low end of the six to 6.5 percent growth target for 2019 as GDP would have to expand by at least 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter to meet this goal.

The market expects fourth quarter GDP to have accelerated at a range of 6.2 percent to 6.5 percent.