Diokno: 6% GDP growth seen for Q2
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Wed, 03 Jul 2019 16:20:35 +0000
THE Philippine economy likely grew to “at least 6 percent” in the second quarter, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said on Wednesday, echoing forecasts offered in the past few days.
In an interview, Diokno said he projected “at least 6 percent” growth for April to June.
The figure is higher than the 5.6-percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth posted in the first quarter, and matches that recorded in the same period last year.
Diokno’s projection confirms newly retired Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo’s comment on Monday that monetary authorities are seeing a GDP expansion of about 6 percent for the three months ending March.
It also mirrors the one predicted by First Metro Investment Corp. and the University of Asia and the Pacific in their joint report, released also on Monday, citing infrastructure spending and easing inflation as factors.
The figure is more upbeat than the 5.8-percent estimate provided by Japan’s Nomura Securities Ltd., with one of its economists, Euben Paracuelles, saying in a report over the weekend that the forecast took into account moderated public spending and investments.
Asked for growth drivers, Diokno said “government spending, plus consumption” likely boosted the country’s second-quarter economic performance.
A slower inflation rate, he added, likely supported the recovery of consumer spending, which also bolstered the manufacturing sector.
Record-high inflation rates resulted in economic growth decelerating to 6.2 percent last year from 6.7 percent in 2017, falling below the government’s downwardly revised 6.5- to 6.9-percent target for 2018.
After the country continued to register slower-than-expected economic growth in January-to-March — mainly blamed on the four-and-a-half-month delay in the approval of the 2019 national budget — the central bank’s policymaking Monetary Board cut on May 9 its overnight borrowing, lending and deposit rates by 25 basis points to 4.50 percent, 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively, following a series of rate hikes last year.
It maintained those rates on June 20 after deciding to take a “prudent pause.”
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