MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Statistics Authority said Wednesday it downwardly revised the country’s gross domestic product growth in the third quarter of 2019 due to adjustments in growth rates of some sectors.
In a statement, the PSA said GDP growth in July-September period last year was changed to 6% from 6.2% previously.
Meanwhile, net primary income from the rest of the world was revised upward from 2.9% to 3.9%. Gross national income was also adjusted from 5.6% to 5.7%.
“Major contributors to the revision were Other Services, from 5.1% to 4.2%; Construction, from 16.3% to 15.4%; and Transport, Storage and Communication, from 9.1% to 8.2%,” the country’s statistics agency reported.
“The PSA revises the GDP estimates based on an approved revision policy which is consistent with international standard practices on national accounts revisions,” it added.
The Philippine economy slowed down in the first half of 2019 after the delayed approval of the budget left new projects unfunded and disrupted state spending.
But the economy managed to rebound in the third quarter, bringing the nine-month average to 5.7%.
Last month, the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee, or DBCC, cut its GDP growth assumption for 2019 to 6%-6.5% from 6%-7% previously.
For 2020, the government still expects the economy to expand 6.5%-7.5%, unchanged from their earlier projection.
But for 2021 until 2022, the DBCC said they are now targeting a GDP growth of 6.5%-7.5%, abandoning their original goal of 7%-8%.
The PSA will release the fourth quarter and full-year 2019 GDP growth data on Thursday, January 23.