PH’s 6.9% economic growth in Q3 elates Palace

Malacañang on Thursday welcomed the 6.9 percent growth of the Philippine economy in the third quarter of 2017.

“That’s good news,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace briefing.

The gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.9% in the third quarter, exceeding the 6.7-percent growth in the second quarter and the 6.4 percent posted in the first quarter.

The growth, however, was slower than the 7 percent growth in the third quarter of 2016 but still made the Philippines the second fastest-growing economy in Asia next to Vietnam.

Roque said the economic growth, fueled by business confidence in the country, could be attributed to President Rodrigo Duterte.

“I think it’s a kind of stability that the country is now enjoying. It’s stability that brings about predictability, which brings out business confidence, investor’s confidence. And that can be attributed to President Duterte’s administration,” he said.

“In fact it was Secretary [Carlos] Dominguez III who informed me, they even adjusted the growth rate by 0.2 percent, which is very good news,” he added.