FOURTH quarter economic growth may have improved significantly over the previous three-month period as the Philippines returned to its previous trajectory.
Moody’s Analytics, a think tank, said “transitory” factors such as the slump in state spending and weak agricultural output likely affected economic conditions less in the closing months of 2014.
“A fall in agricultural production and a decline in government spending dragged third quarter GDP growth to its slowest pace in three years,” Moody’s Analytics said. The think tank is an affiliate of Moody’s Investor Service, one of the world’s major credit rating firms.
For the October to December period, Moody’s said growth likely reached 6.1 percent—an improvement from 5.3 percent recorded in the third quarter of last year.
The think tank said business sentiment and investment remained buoyant and “should make a solid contribution to growth. “Consumer demand accounts for 70 percent of the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) and will continue to grow at around 5 percent annually.
Data on economic growth for the fourth quarter of 2014 will be released next week. The government’s target for GDP growth in 2014 was set at 6.5 to 7.5 percent.