‘7.2% growth in Q4 still doable’

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said achieving the lower end of the government’s growth target range is still achievable due to increased public spending and the upcoming holiday season.

During a briefing in San Francisco, California, NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan expressed optimism, stating that meeting a 7.2 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the last quarter of the year is doable.

With a 5.5 percent growth recorded in the first nine months of the year, the country now requires a minimum growth of 7.2 percent in the remaining three months to meet the government’s target range of six percent to seven percent for the fullyear GDP.

“For us to achieve that low end of the range, we need to grow by fourth quarter by 7.2 percent. Now is it doable? I think yes, it’s still doable,” Balisacan said.

“There’s still so much space for the acceleration of government spending which wounded the performance in the first half of the year,” he added.

During the third quarter, government spending rose to 6.7 percent, which reverses the previous quarter’s annual decline of 0.7 percent.

The NEDA chief also noted that the upcoming holidays will bring the inflows in the fourth quarter and may also help in achieving the target growth for the year.

By next year, infrastructure projects are expected to ramp up the economy which will make the 6.5 percent to eight percent medium-term target growth possible, Balisacan said.

“We are ramping up a major program in housing and by our estimate that would add another one percentage point of the GDP, so I think the six and half to eight percent growth for the medium-term is still within the possibilities,” he said.