Philippine Q4 economic growth rises to 6.9 pct

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippine economy soared to an annual high of 6.9 percent during the fourth quarter of 2014 that pushed last year's gross domestic product (GDP) to 6.1 percent, an official of the National Statistical Coordinating Board (NSCB) said today.

National Statistician Lisa Grace Bersales said manufacturing and construction as well as the trade, real estate, and transport have showed robust performance in last quarter.

She said the country's 6.1-percent GDP growth is the second fastest in Asia after China's 7.4 percent as the Aquino government had set a full-year growth target between 6.5 to 7.5 percent for 2014.

Bersales explained that fourth quarter GDP accelerated to 6.9 percent from 6.3 percent in the same period of last year.

"From the third to the fourth quarter of 2014, seasonally adjusted gross national income (GNI) grew by 2.3 percent compared to the 0.6 percent growth in the third quarter of 2013. Seasonally adjusted GDP accelerated to 2.5 percent from 0.7 percent in the previous period," she said.

Bersales also noted that the Agriculture sector has recovered to 6.0 percent from negative 3.0 percent while both the industry and services sectors jumped to 3.6 percent and 1.3 percent respectively, from a growth of 1.1 percent recorded by both sectors in the previous quarter of 2014.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda hailed the development and assured the stakeholders that the Aquino Administration will continue to work hand in hand with fellow APEC economies in building a better, more dynamic, more resilient Asia-Pacific region.

"Rest assured that our people can only expect government to double its efforts in making sure that the opportunities brought about by our resurging economy will redound to the benefit of every Filipino," Lacierda said in a statement.