Second quarter growth higher than first quarter's 7.3% - NEDA executive

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine economy likely performed better in the second quarter of the year compared to the first quarter growth of 7.3 percent, a senior government official said yesterday.

Myrna Asuncion, Acting Director for Policy Planning at the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said that leading economic indicators show that economic growth in the second quarter may top performance in the first quarter.

 “Second quarter growth could be higher,” Asuncion said, noting that indicators such as automative sales, exports and manufacturing output during the period all performed better during the quarter.

The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) is set to announce the second quarter economic figures next month.

However, he said that annual growth would be slower in the second half of the year because the economy will no longer enjoy the effect of elections spending.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga Jr., for his part, expressed hopes that economic growth this year would top the five-percent to six-percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth target set by the interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).

This is on back of the recovery in the economy.

For next year, Paderanga said that economy may hit a growth rate of up to eight percent and maintain this up to 2016.

 “We are hopeful that at some point, we will hit a growth somewhere between seven percent and eight percent,” Paderanga said.

To sustain growth, the NEDA chief said that the government would create an environment conducive to investments.

“There will be a reduction in the cost of doing business by streamlining investment processes,” Paderanga said.

He said the government would also work on improving the competitiveness of the different industries so that investments will pour in. “We want to boost the confidence of domestic and foreign investors,” he said.

Paderanga said the government would also putting in place “social safety nets” such as conditional cash transfers to “catch those who are left behind by the character of growth.”

The CCT scheme, first implemented in 2007, is a poverty alleviation and social assistance strategy similar to those adopted in some Latin American and South East Asian countries.

The program initially covered at least 376,000 households. Under the program, the Department of Social Welfare and Development provides money to the poor on the condition that they make investments in human capital like sending their children to school or bringing them to health centers regularly.