3rd quarter economic growth seen above 6%

Despite high consumer prices, the economy likely grew by more than 6 percent in the third quarter as the government ramped up public investments, especially on infrastructure, while manufacturing sustained growth, the Metrobank Group’s First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) said Tuesday.

“The outlooks from the demand side—investments and exports—still look positive while slowing manufacturing and commodity prices rising at a faster pace cloud this view. Nonetheless, GDP (gross domestic product) should still handily grow by more than 6 percent in the third quarter,” FMIC said in its latest The Market Call Capital Markets Research jointly prepared with the University of Asia and the Pacific.

The government will report on the country’s third-quarter GDP performance next week.

The GDP expanded by only 6 percent year-on-year during the second quarter, the slowest in three years, on the back of high inflation as well as the implementation of a number of environmental policies that affected the agriculture and services sectors, including the six-month closure and rehabilitation of top tourist destination Boracay Island.

Economic managers this month cut the full-year GDP growth target to 6.5-6.9 percent from 7-8 percent previously due to the slower first-half average expansion of 6.3 percent.