The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on Friday expects the economy to expand at a modest pace in the second quarter of the year.
In a briefing, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga told reporters that the economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP),m might expand over five percent in the second quarter of the year.
GDP refers to the total value of goods and services produced in a country in a given time.
“We hope the second quarter GDP might be better than the first quarter and it would be probably modest last year,” Paderanga said.
Paderanga said the drivers of the growth in the second quarter would be the same as in the previous quarter.
“The drivers that we have in the first quarter seems to be there,” he said.
The NSCB earlier said that the growth in the first quarter was driven by the industry and agriculture sectors as well as household spending, while government spending went down.
The Philippine economy in the second quarter last year grew by 7.9 percent and 4.9 percent in the first quarter of the year.
Paderanga also said that the government would speed up spending in the second half to meet the 7 percent to 8 percent GDP target this year.
“The 7 percent to 8 percent GDP is still a flighting target this year, but it would be easier to achieve in 2012,” he said.
Under the government’s Philippine Development Plan for 2011 to 2016, the 7 percent to 8 percent annual growth target will generate an average of one million new jobs annually and these will be found primarily in industry and services sectors.
It added that the 7 percent to 8 percent GDP target per year implies a tripling of per capita income to about $ 5,000 in two decades.
“This is a higher growth trajectory than the past decade’s and shall be attained through a higher contribution of physical capital to GDP growth, as well as through the increase in total factor productivity through massive investment in transport , water, energy and other infrastructure and through good governance,” the country’s economic blueprint said.
The PDP said sustaining growth in later year will require even higher investment ratios reaching 22 percent by 2016.
The government approved a total investment of P3.796 trillion until 2016. [PNA]
