Manufacturing likely grew 5.5% in Feb, says Moody’s Analytics

MANUFACTURING likely continued to post growth in February, although at a pace slower than the double-digit jump registered at the start of the year, the research arm of Moody’s Corp. said.

“Philippine industrial production likely expanded by 5.5 percent in February, following January’s astronomical 34.3-percent gain,” Moody’s Analytics said in a report last Friday.

The growth in manufacturing output, as measured by the Volume of Production Index (VoPI), climbed to a six-year high in January, National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) data showed.

The January VoPI exceeded the 2.6-percent growth posted a year ago as well as the previous month’s 5 percent.

The Value of Production Index or VaPI also grew 26.5 percent to reverse the contraction being posted since April last year.

Neda said it was expecting the manufacturing sector to “grow more strongly in the year ahead,” partly due to election-related spending ahead of the national polls in May.

“Food production is expected to grow strongly in the coming months, as the negative effects the El Niño (weather phenomenon) had on crop production start to dissipate,” Moody’s Analytics said.

For Moody’s Analytics, “the Philippines is set to have one of the best performing economies in the region again in 2016.”

Its affiliate debt watcher, Moody’s Investors Service, had projected the Philippine economy to grow by 6 percent both this year and next year, faster than the growth projections for Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, although slightly outpaced by Vietnam.

The credit rating agency’s forecasts, however, were below the government’s economic growth targets of 6.8-7.8 percent in 2016 and 6.6.-7.6 percent in 2017.