Amid recovery in the agriculture sector, robust trade and manufacturing growth as well as sustained strong domestic demand, the Philippine economy expanded 6.4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the government reported Thursday.
The figure, however, was below previous forecasts of economic managers placing it 6.9-7 percent.
The first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth was slower than the 6.6-percent expansion during the fourth quarter of last year.
It was also slower than the 6.9 percent posted in the first quarter of 2016, during which economic growth was boosted by election-related spending.
For 2017, the government targets 6.5-7.5 percent GDP growth, following last year’s 6.9-percent expansion.
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