Phl may have grown 5.5% in Q1 - Paderanga

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine economy in the first quarter of the year may have grown by 5.5 percent in the first quarter of the year, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga Jr. said on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the 45th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank Board of Governors yesterday.

He said he is hopeful that the economic growth in the first three months of the year hit 5.5 percent as earlier projected by First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC).

“I am hoping I can be as optimistic as (FMIC). I’m hoping it will be more or less 5.5 percent,” Paderanga said.

He said the indicators look good but stressed the actual picture could still change because not everything is captured by the indicators.

Nevertheless, he said there is also a strong chance that first quarter growth could beat the 4.6 percent recorded in the same period last year as some indicators are pointing out.

 He said the government has successfully accelerated spending particularly on infrastructure project from last year’s spending level.

“The indicators are good. Infrastructure spending is all over and it continues to improve,” Paderanga said.

State spending improved to P250.8 billion in the first two months of the year, 12 percent higher than comparable disbursements in 2011.

Paderanga said this is a clear indication that economic activities improved in the first quarter of 2012.

Last year, the economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), grew by 3.7 percent which was way below the official forecast range of 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent for last year and less than half of the 2010 growth of 7.6 percent.

The Aquino administration’s under-spending has been blamed for the lackluster economic growth.

As such, the government approved last year a P72-billion disbursement acceleration package, or what it calls a stimulus program but is actually the amount of disbursements it has earlier programmed.

For 2012, Paderanga said the economy is expected to hit the five percent to six percent growth target.