Drilon considers target GDP a 'pipe dream'

MANILA, Philippines - Senate President Franklin Drilon on Friday expressed concern over the country's target economic growth for the year, noting that it is becoming a "pipe dream."

The Philippine Statistics Authority on Thursday announced that the country's economy eased to 5.6 percent in the second quarter, which is way below the government's target of seven to eight percent growth for 2015.

"The higher GDP target is ideal, but at the rate things are going it would be unattainable. It would mean the economy has to grow by at least 8.7 percent in the remaining quarters in order to achieve the minimum growth rate target of 7 percent, which is impossible to achieve," Drilon said.

Drilon noted that the country's economic growth is being dragged down by an "alarming" trend of underspending in the government.

He said government spending represents almost 20 percent of the country's GDP.

"I am therefore asking our Cabinet members who lead the government's economic cluster to conduct a serious re-assessment of our current standing, including a realistic description of what the country could and could not achieve for this year," the senate president said.

Drilon, however, considred the 3.9-increase in government consumption as a welcome development but stressed that there is still a need to resolve issues on spending, particularly in the public infrastructure sector.