The third quarter growth was
driven by the services sector with robust performances of the transport,
storage and communication, financial intermediation, and real estate, renting
and business activities, and supported by the five consecutive quarters of
sustained accelerated growth of the industry and the seemingly weather-tolerant
agriculture sector.
“We posted the fastest economic
growth within ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations],” said Arsenio Balisacan,
director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority, during a
briefing on Wednesday.
NSCB data showed the comparative
growth rates among the Philippines’ ASEAN peers as follows:
6.2 percent for Indonesia
5.2 percent for Malaysia
4.7 percent for Vietnam
3.0 percent for Thailand
0.3 percent for Singapore
“Our efforts at good governance
are beginning to bear fruit. But we know that our task is far from over,” said
Balisacan.
“With the upwardly revised second
quarter gross domestic product (GDP) estimate, the growth for the first nine
months of 2012 at 6.5 percent surpassed the upper end target of the 6.0 percent
for the whole year,” Jose Ramon G. Albert, NSCB secretary-general, said in a
separate statement.
On the demand side, increased
consumer and government spending, increased investments in construction, and
the third consecutive quarter of growth in external trade contributed to the
highest quarterly growth since the third quarter of 2010, said Albert.
The stock market immediately went
on “a feel good rally and was up 30 points from yesterday’s closing on this
news, which the market already knows,” said Jonathan Ravelas, BDO Unibank
market strategist.
The Philippine Stock Exchange
index hit an intra-day, all-time high of 5,619.24, up 30 points or 0.54 percent as of 10:27 a.m.
“I think this growth was already
highlighted, but with this development we see expectations of over 6 percent
GDP growth for the fourth quarter and overall for the year of 6.5 to 7 percent,
at least,” said Ravelas.
“It’s really an upbeat economy,”
he added.
The NSCB valued the third quarter
output at P1.525 trillion at constant 2000 prices from P1.424 trillion a year
earlier. The third quarter results bought the total output, as measured by the
GDP, to P4.607 trillion in the first nine months of the year from P4.327
trillion in the same 2011 period.
"With projected population
growing by 1.7 percent to 96.0 million, per capita GDP grew by 5.3
percent," Albert noted.
The third quarter growth not only
surpassed the momentum set since the beginning of the year, it also exceeded
the expectations for Philippine's fiscal performance, Budget Secretary
Florencio Abad noted in a separate statement.
"Over the last 10 months,
the Philippines demonstrated extraordinary fiscal strength, even in the face of
a bleak global economy," said Abad.
"While we have always been
confident in our ability to sustain our economic pace, the remarkable
7.1-percent growth in the third quarter is a resounding affirmation of the
resilience of our fiscal position, especially when transparent, accountable,
and participative governance lies at its foundation," he added.
With reports from Edgardo Tugade
and Amanda Fernandez/OMG/KG/HS, GMA News
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